STIPULATION AND ORDER TO SUBSTITUTE AND DISMISS DEFENDANTS Doc. #99

ANTHONY W. ISHII, Senior District Judge.

This case arises out of the alleged wrongful death of pre-trial detainee Troy Phillips at the Fresno County Jail. When the initial Complaint was filed, Plaintiffs were aware of the identities of some, but not all, of the officer Defendants involved in the events leading up to Mr. Phillips' death. See First Amended Complaint for Violation of Civil Rights, Dkt. 39 ("Complaint"). Because Plaintiffs knew that other officers were likely involved, however, but that the identities of these officers would remain unknown until discovery had taken place, Plaintiffs named these unknown officers as "John Doe and Richard Doe" in the Complaint, so that their names could be substituted as they became available through discovery. See Complaint, ¶¶ 14-15.

As information became available during discovery, Plaintiff learned the identity of other potential Defendants, and took steps to effectuate substitution and add Defendants. By January 15, 2015, Counsel for Plaintiffs requested that opposing counsel stipulate to this substitution of Officer Diaz in place of a John Doe and Richard Doe defendant, and Defendant did not so agree. On March 2, 2015, Plaintiff moved to substitute Classification Officer Diaz as a Doe Defendant, offering facts in support of this substitution. See Dkt. 73. Defendants opposed this motion on March 5, 2015. See Dkt. 77. On April 15, 2015, the Court granted Plaintiff's motion and ordered that Plaintiffs file a Second Amended Complaint within 7 days of the order, and serve Classification Officer Diaz with the Second Amended Complaint no later than May 15, 2015. See Dkt. 84. Plaintiffs complied with this order and filed the Second Amended Complaint on April 22, 2015. See Dkt. 85. Plaintiffs served the Second Amended Complaint on Defendant Diaz through her counsel.

Subsequently, information obtained in discovery identified Correctional Officer Jack Rocha as an additional person Plaintiffs wished to substitute as a Defendant for a John Doe or Richard Roe. In an effort to avoid further piecemeal changes to the complaint and to conserve the resources of the Court and the parties, Plaintiffs reached an agreement with Defense on the June 29, 2015, conference call, whereby after completion of the Rule 30(b)(6) depositions, a timeframe would be discussed by which Plaintiff could make any further amendments. See Plaintiffs July 6, 2015, letter and Defendants' July 8, 2015, letter. Rule 30(b)(6) depositions occurred in this case on July 13, 2015 (Lt. Duran, Part 1), September 9, 2015 (Lt. Duran, Part 2) and October 21, 2015 (David Pomaville). Plaintiffs deposed Officer Rocha on November 16, 2015. Officer Jack Rocha was a classification officer at the Fresno County Jail in 2012, and he housed Jose Cuevas in the cell with Troy Phillips, where the attack ultimately occurred. In an email exchange two days after the deposition, on November 18, 2015, the parties agreed to Plaintiffs' suggestion to substitute Correctional Officer Jack Rocha as a Defendant and drop other Defendants/claims, via a stipulation, rather than by filing a Third Amended Complaint. The deadline for Non-Expert discovery was December 18, 2015. See Dkt. 70.

Given this,

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties that:

1. Correctional Officer Jack Rocha is hereby substituted as a Defendant in this case, in place of one of the "John Doe and Richard Doe" defendants as initially named in the complaint in this matter.

2. Defendant Correctional Officer L. Her, Correctional Officer K. Yang, and Correctional Officer Castro are hereby dismissed from this action.

3. All claims relating to jail staff's response to the subject incident are hereby dismissed from this action.

ORDER

Upon stipulation of the parties, and GOOD CAUSE APPEARING, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

1. Correctional Officer Jack Rocha is hereby substituted as a Defendant in this case, in place of one of the "John Doe and Richard Doe" defendants as initially named in the complaint in this matter.

2. Defendant Correctional Officer L. Her, Correctional Officer K. Yang, and Correctional Officer Castro are hereby dismissed from this action.

3. All claims relating to jail staff's response to the subject incident are dismissed from this action.

IT IS SO ORDERED.