LANDYA McCAFFERTY, District Judge.
Defendants have filed a motion for summary judgment (doc. no. 71) on all claims remaining in this action. Plaintiff has not responded.
Plaintiff, Fred Runyon, has alleged that Manchester Police Department ("MPD") officers arrested him without a warrant and without probable cause in 2011, and that they beat him and shocked him with "stun guns." Plaintiff alleged in his pleadings that the arrest occurred in 2011, but that he could not recall exactly when because he had been shocked so many times.
Following the preliminary review of Runyon's claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, this court dismissed a number of claims asserted by Runyon, and allowed the complaint to be served upon the MPD and against an unnamed MPD officer, identified as "John Doe." In ordering service upon those defendants, this court noted that the discovery period would give Runyon an opportunity to identify the relevant officers.
The federal claims remaining in this action are Fourth Amendment excessive force and false arrest claims, asserted against MPD Officer John Doe who is alleged to have falsely arrested, beaten, and shocked Runyon with a stun gun. Also remaining in this action are related state law tort claims of assault and battery, asserted against the same John Doe officer and the MPD, arising out of the same allegations. Defendants have moved for summary judgment on all of the remaining claims, asserting as bases: (1) the unlikelihood that any MPD officers arrested or transported Runyon as alleged, as there is no record of a 2011 MPD arrest or transport of Runyon; (2) the unlikelihood that MPD officers assaulted Runyon with "stun guns" in 2011, as MPD officers did not begin to employ Tasers for police work until late 2012; and (3) Runyon's failure to amend the complaint to identify any of the defendant officers within the requisite time, as he had been instructed to do. Runyon has not filed any response to defendants' motion for summary judgment.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m) authorizes the court, on motion or on its own after notice to the plaintiff, to dismiss an action without prejudice against any defendant who has not been served. This court allowed this action to proceed against a John Doe officer, after finding that there was a reasonable likelihood that plaintiff could obtain the missing names through the discovery process. On March 25, 2013, upon ordering service, this court specifically warned plaintiff that the court would recommend dismissal of the action if Runyon failed to amend the complaint to name the individual defendants within 120 days.
More than a year has passed since the court issued summonses to the MPD and the John Doe officer, and warned plaintiff of the consequences of failing to amend the complaint to name individual officers as defendants to this action. In July 2013, defendants provided plaintiff with all of the arrest records in their possession relating to him, for the years 2010 and 2011.
The only claims remaining in this action are claims asserting that the MPD is vicariously liable, under state law, for its employees' tortious conduct. This court may decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over such claims, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3), where it has dismissed all of the claims over which it had original jurisdiction. Such dismissal is proper here, given that this order dismisses all of the federal claims that remained in this case.
Defendants' motion for summary judgment (doc. no. 72) is GRANTED, to the extent that all claims in this action remaining after the court completed its preliminary review of the complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A are dismissed without prejudice. The clerk shall enter judgment consistent with this order and with the April 19, 2013, Order (doc. no. 37), and shall close the case.
SO ORDERED.