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416 F.2d 1186

Docket No. 23427.

Finley v. Rittenhouse

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Decided Oct. 20, 1969.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals · decided 1969-10-20

2 counsel of record

Applies 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))

Relies on Monroe v. Pape · Link v. Wabash Railroad · Stiltner v. Rhay

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Opinion by (per_curiam) · Decided 1969-10-20

How this case has been cited

Cited by 23 later decisions — most recently September 1995

12 federal appellate · 2 district · 3 state decisions

1401969197019801990decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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¶1*1187Frank Finley, in pro. per.

¶2Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen., Los Angeles, Cal., for appellee.

¶3Before BROWNING and DUNIWAY, Circuit Judges, and TAYLOR*, District Judge.

¶5PER CURIAM:

¶6Appellant was convicted in the Pasadena, California, Muncipal Court of buying and receiving stolen property in violation of section 496 of the California Penal Code.

¶7Ten years later, he brought this civil action for damages under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the appellee, the police officer who arrested him for the above offense, had subjected him to false imprisonment and had unlawfully taken several items from his person, which were later admitted in evidence at his trial.

¶8On two occasions, the trial court dismissed appellant’s complaint1 and directed him to file an amended complaint setting out the particular facts upon which he based his claim that appellee had violated his civil rights. Appellant failed to allege such specific facts, and the trial court dismissed his action.

¶9Appellant’s conclusory allegations, unsupported by any underlying factual details, were insufficient to state a claim for relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Lee v. Wilson, 363 F.2d 824 (9th Cir. 1966); Stiltner v. Rhay, 322 F.2d 314, 316 n. 4 (9th Cir. 1965). The court clearly had the power under Rule 41(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to dismiss the action for failure to comply with its orders. Link v. Wabash R.R., 370 U.S. 626, 82 S.Ct. 1386, 8 L.Ed.2d 734 (1962); Agnew v. Moody, 330 F.2d 868, 871 (9th Cir. 1964); Maddox v. Shroyer, 112 U.S.App.D.C. 318, 302 F.2d 903, 904 (1962); Package Machinery Co. v. Hayssen Mfg. Co., 266 F.2d 56 (7th Cir. 1959).

¶10Affirmed.

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