A.S. Urmancheev v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Health Services Corps, et al.
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Cathy Ann Bencivengo (author)
Analysis
The court considered a joint motion by the plaintiff and the United States to vacate a prior order dismissing the plaintiff's complaint without leave to amend, which was filed following a conditional settlement agreement reached during Ninth Circuit appellate mediation. The court granted the motion, vacated the dismissal, and granted the plaintiff leave to file a third amended complaint within twenty-one days.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Joint motion to vacate the June 20, 2023 order of dismissal and grant leave to file a third amended complaint“Accordingly, the Court VACATES the June 20, 2023 order of dismissal. The Court GRANTS Plaintiff leave to file a third amended complaint within twenty-one days of the of this order.” | agree with court The court applied the standard for Rule 60(b)(5) relief, which requires a showing of exceptional circumstances. The court found that the procedural history, the plaintiff's transition from pro se to represented status, and the joint request following appellate mediation constituted exceptional circumstances consistent with the interests of justice. This is a defensible application of the rule, as the joint motion and the mediation context provide a strong equitable basis for vacatur that overrides the prior dismissal without leave to amend. |
The order itself: sound — The order correctly identifies the applicable standard for Rule 60(b)(5) relief and applies it to the specific facts of the case, including the joint motion and the mediation context. The reasoning is concise but sufficient to support the result.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 A.S. URMANCHEEV, Case No.: 3:22-cv-0762-CAB-MSB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER VACATING DISMISSAL 13 v. AND GRANTING LEAVE TO FILE THIRD AMENDED COMPLAINT 14 IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT HEALTH SERVICES 15 CORPS, et al., [Doc. No. 31] 16 Defendants. 17 18 Before the Court is Plaintiff A.S. Urmancheev and Defendant United States of 19 America’s joint motion to vacate this Court’s order dismissing Plaintiff’s Federal Tort 20 Claims Act claim against the United States. [Doc. No. 31.] Plaintiff also moves for an 21 order vacating dismissal of his Bivens claim against the individual federal defendants and 22 granting leave to amend his second amended complaint to add state-law tort claims against 23 the non-federal individual defendants. [Id.] For the reasons set forth below, the Court 24 VACATES the Court’s prior order dismissing Plaintiff’s second amended complaint 25 without leave to amend and GRANTS Plaintiff leave to file a third amended complaint. 26 I. BACKGROUND 27 On May 24, 2022, Plaintiff, proceeding pro se, filed a complaint against various 28 government entities, along with a motion to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”). [Doc. Nos. 1 1, 2.] The Court granted Plaintiff’s IFP application but dismissed the complaint with leave 2 to amend pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) based on deficiencies in the identification 3 of proper defendants. [Doc. No. 3.] Plaintiff thereafter filed a first amended complaint, 4 which suffered from substantially the same deficiencies as his initial complaint. [Doc. No. 5 8.] The Court again dismissed the first amended complaint with leave to amend. [Doc. 6 No. 10.] Following multiple extensions of time, Plaintiff filed a second amended 7 complaint, which similarly failed to cure the previously identified deficiencies. [Doc. No. 8 18.] Accordingly, on June 20, 2023, the Court dismissed Plaintiff’s second amended 9 complaint without further leave to amend pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). [Doc. 10 No. 20.] 11 Plaintiff timely appealed the dismissal of his second amended complaint without 12 further leave to amend. [Doc. No. 21.] On appeal, the Ninth Circuit appointed pro bono 13 counsel for Plaintiff’s appeal. [Doc. No. 31 at 8.] The parties subsequently participated in 14 several mediation conferences with a Ninth Circuit mediator and reached an agreement to 15 conditionally settle the appeal; pursuant to that agreement, the parties filed the instant joint 16 motion to vacate. [Id.] 17 II. DISCUSSION 18 “‘Rule 60 provides for extraordinary relief and may be invoked only upon a showing 19 of exceptional circumstances.’” Engleson v. Burlington N.R. Co., 972 F.2d 1038, 1044 20 (9th Cir. 1992) (quoting Ben Sager Chem. Int’l v. E. Targosz & Co., 560 F.2d 805, 809 21 (7th Cir. 1977)). The parties jointly move to vacate under Rule 60(b)(5), which permits 22 relief from a final judgment where “the judgment has been satisfied, released, or 23 discharged; it is based on an earlier judgment that has been reversed or vacated; or applying 24 it prospectively is no longer equitable.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(5). The parties argue that 25 the balances of equities favor vacatur because it “will foster the judicial policy favoring 26 settlement and mediation and prevent the expenditure of judicial and party resources o[n] 27 appeal.” [Doc. No. 31 at 10.] 28 1 In light of the procedural history of this case, Plaintiffs prior pro se status, his 2 ||current representation by counsel, and the parties’ joint request following appellate 3 mediation, the Court finds it consistent with the interests of justice to vacate the prior order 4 dismissal and permit Plaintiff another opportunity to amend. 5 Hit. CONCLUSION 6 Accordingly, the Court VACATES the June 20, 2023 order of dismissal. The Court 7 || GRANTS Plaintiff leave to file a third amended complaint within twenty-one days of the 8 of this order. Any third amended complaint must cure the deficiencies previously 9 identified by the Court and must comply with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The 10 |}amended complaint must be complete and SHALL NOT incorporate material from prior 11 ||}complaints by reference. 12 Itis SO ORDERED. 13 Dated: February 26, 2026 15 Hon. Cathy Ann Bencivengo 6 United States District Judge 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28