Carr v. Federal Bureau of Prisons et al

Filing 8

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Carolyn K. Delaney on 12/19/2014 GRANTING plaintiff's 2 request to proceed IFP; plaintiff shall pay the $350.00 filing fee in accordance with the concurrent order to the Warden, MCFP Springfield; plaint iff's 4 motion for legal correspondence to be marked legal mail is DENIED; plaintiff's 7 motion for leave to file a supplement is GRANTED as follows: within 30 days, plaintiff shall file an amended complaint or, in the alternative, notify the court that he wishes to proceed on the original complaint. (Yin, K)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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LEROY CARR,

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No. 2:14-cv-2110 JAM CKD P
Plaintiff,

v.

ORDER

FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS, et al.,

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Defendants.

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Plaintiff is a federal prisoner proceeding pro se with this civil rights action pursuant to 42

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U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff has requested leave to proceed in forma pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §

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1915. This proceeding was referred to this court by Local Rule 302 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §

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636(b)(1).

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Plaintiff has submitted a declaration that makes the showing required by 28 U.S.C. §
1915(a). Accordingly, the request to proceed in forma pauperis will be granted.

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Plaintiff is required to pay the statutory filing fee of $350.00 for this action. 28 U.S.C. §§

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1914(a), 1915(b)(1). By separate order, the court will direct the appropriate agency to collect the

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initial partial filing fee from plaintiff’s trust account and forward it to the Clerk of the Court.

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Thereafter, plaintiff will be obligated for monthly payments of twenty percent of the preceding

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month’s income credited to plaintiff’s prison trust account. These payments will be forwarded by

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the appropriate agency to the Clerk of the Court each time the amount in plaintiff’s account

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exceeds $10.00, until the filing fee is paid in full. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2).

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Motion to Supplement

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Plaintiff commenced this action on September 11, 2014. Recently he requested leave to

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file a supplement to the complaint under Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. He

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seeks to add another claim against defendant Olson based on allegations in the original complaint.

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(ECF No. 7.)

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Supplemental pleadings, governed by Rule 15(d), allow a party to set out transactions or

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events “that happened after the date of the pleading to be supplemented.” As this is not

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plaintiff’s intention, Rule 15(d) does not apply.

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However, plaintiff may file an amended complaint under Rule 15(a). Assuming plaintiff

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retains a copy of the original complaint, this should not be unduly burdensome: Plaintiff need

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only add whatever allegations or claims he wishes and re-file his original complaint with any

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added changes.

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Local Rule 220 requires that an amended complaint be complete in itself without

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reference to any prior pleading. This is because, as a general rule, an amended complaint

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supersedes the original complaint. See Loux v. Rhay, 375 F.2d 55, 57 (9th Cir. 1967). Once

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plaintiff files an amended complaint, the original pleading no longer serves any function in the

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case. Therefore, in an amended complaint, as in an original complaint, each claim and the

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involvement of each defendant must be sufficiently alleged.

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Motion for “Legal Mail”
Plaintiff has filed a motion asking that all documents sent by the court be marked “legal

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mail.” (ECF No. 4.) While it is not the court’s practice to mark outgoing documents “legal

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mail,” plaintiff is informed that all outgoing mail bears the court’s return address. No further

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relief is available in this regard.

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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

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1. Plaintiff’s request for leave to proceed in forma pauperis (ECF No. 2) is granted.

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2. Plaintiff is obligated to pay the statutory filing fee of $350.00 for this action. All fees

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shall be collected and paid in accordance with this court’s order to the Warden, MCFP

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Springfield, Federal Medical Center, filed concurrently herewith.
3. Plaintiff’s motion for legal correspondence to be marked legal mail (ECF No. 4) is

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denied.
4. Plaintiff’s motion for leave to file supplement (ECF No. 7) is granted as follows:
Within thirty days from the date of this order, plaintiff shall file an amended complaint or, in the

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alternative, notify the court that he wishes to proceed on the original complaint.

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Dated: December 19, 2014

_____________________________________
CAROLYN K. DELANEY
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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