Hall v. San Joaquin County Jail, et al

Filing 154

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Allison Claire on 06/04/18 ORDERING within 10 days of service of this order, defendants may re-file and serve their motion for summary judgment. Within 14 days of service of this order, plaintiff shall file a declaration in support of his motion for permission to use the court's electronic filing system 153 . (Plummer, M)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

9

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

10
11

TERRELL D. HALL,

12

Plaintiff,

13
14

No. 2:13-cv-0324 AC P

v.

ORDER

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY JAIL, et al.,

15

Defendants.

16
Plaintiff is a former county prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action pursuant

17
18

to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. After defendants filed a motion for summary judgment based primarily

19

upon undisputed material facts that were deemed admitted by plaintiff’s failure to respond to

20

requests for admission (ECF No. 116), plaintiff filed an opposition that made clear that he did not

21

agree the matters were admitted (ECF No. 128). Plaintiff was given an opportunity to move to

22

withdraw his admissions (ECF No. 132), but was returned to custody before his time to do so had

23

expired (ECF No. ECF No. 135 at 2). Due to plaintiff’s return to custody, the motion for

24

summary judgment was vacated and defendants were ordered to re-serve plaintiff with a copy of

25

the requests for admission to assist him with filing a motion to withdraw. Id. Plaintiff was then

26

given a final opportunity to move to withdraw his admissions (id.), and the time for doing so has

27

now passed. The matters subject to the requests for admission shall therefore continue to be

28

////
1

1

deemed admitted and defendants shall have an opportunity to re-submit their motion for summary

2

judgment.

3

Additionally, it appears that plaintiff has once again been released from custody and he is

4

now requesting leave to e-file. ECF No. 153. Although the Eastern District of California is an

5

electronic management/filing district, unrepresented persons are required to file and serve paper

6

documents unless the assigned District Judge or Magistrate Judge grants leave to utilize electronic

7

filing. L.R. 133(a), (b)(2). A request to use electronic filing by a pro se party as an exception to

8

the rule may be made as a written motion setting out an explanation of reasons for the requested

9

exception. L.R. 133(b)(3).

10

Plaintiff’s motion states that he is requesting permission to electronically file so that he

11

can get documents in a timelier fashion. ECF No. 153. However, once plaintiff is approved to

12

file documents electronically, he will no longer receive any documents by mail and the court will

13

not accept paper documents from him, meaning he can no longer mail in his filings. The motion

14

does not make clear whether plaintiff is familiar with the requirements applicable to electronic

15

filing in this court or whether he has access to the hardware and software needed for electronic

16

filing. Plaintiff will be given an opportunity to file a declaration in support of his motion that

17

addresses these matters. The declaration must include a statement that plaintiff has reviewed the

18

requirements for electronic filing1 and agrees to abide by them and that he understands that once

19

he registers for electronic filing, all notices and documents will be received by e-mail and not by

20

regular mail. The declaration must also address whether plaintiff has regular access to the

21

following technical requirements necessary for electronic filing: (1) a computer with internet

22

access; (2) an e-mail account for receiving notifications from the electronic filing system; (3) a

23

PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) account; (4) a word-processing program; (5)

24

PDF conversion software to convert word processing documents into .pdf format; and (6) a

25

scanner for exhibits or other supporting documents that are only in paper format. Failure to

26

address each of these items will result in denial of the motion.

27
28

1

The CM/ECF User Manual is available on the court’s website at
http://www.caed.uscourts.gov/caednew/index.cfm/cmecf-e-filing/cmecf-users-manual/.
2

1

Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

2

1.

3
4

Within ten days of service of this order, defendants may re-file and serve their motion

for summary judgment.
2. Within fourteen days of service of this order, plaintiff shall file a declaration in

5

support of his motion for permission to use the court’s electronic filing system (ECF No. 153).

6

Failure to file a declaration that meets the requirements outlined above will result in denial of the

7

motion.

8

DATED: June 4, 2018

9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
3