Mason v. San Diego Central Jail et al

Filing 4

ORDER Denying Motion To Proceed In Forma Pauperis (Re Doc. 2 ): Plaintiff is granted forty-five (45) days from the date of this Order in which to re-open his case by either: (1) paying the entire $400 statutory and administrative filing fee, or (2) filing a new Motion to Proceed IFP. If Plaintiff neither pays the $400 filing fee in full nor sufficiently completes and files the Motion to Proceed IFP, together with a certified copy of his trust account statement within 45 days, this act ion will remained dismissed without prejudice, and without further Order of the Court. Signed by Judge William Q. Hayes on 6/8/2015. (All non-registered users served via U.S. Mail Service; per Order, a blank IFP motion form also was mailed to Plaintiff.) (mdc)

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..: , .~ :::. L. 1 70\5 JUN -8 PI] 3: hl 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 12 Civil No. PAUL MICHAEL MASON, Inmate No. 15715609, Plaintiff, 13 14 vs. 15 16 15-cv-01238 WQH (NLS) ORDER DENYING MOTION TO PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a) [ECF Doc. No.2] SAN DIEGO CENTRAL JAIL, et aI., 17 18 Defendants. 19 Paul Michael Mason ("Plaintiff'), currently housed at the San Diego Central Jail 20 located in San Diego, California, and proceeding pro se, has filed a civil rights complaint 21 ("Compl.")(ECF Doc. No.1). 22 Plaintiff has not prepaid the civil filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a); 23 instead, he has filed a Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis ("IFP") pursuant to 28 24 U.S.C. § 1915(a) (ECF Doc. No.2). 25 I. MOTION TO PROCEED IFP 26 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 27 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 28 -1- 150v1238 WQH (NLS) 1 $400. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a).1 An action may proceed despite the plaintiffs failure to 2 prepay the entire fee only ifhe is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 3 § 1915(a).SeeRodriguezv. Cook, 169F.3d 1176, 1177 (9thCir. 1999). 4 However, if the plaintiff is a prisoner at the time of filing, even if he is granted 5 leave to proceed IFP, his filing fees are not "waived." Instead, he may be permitted to 6 commence suit, but remains obligated by statute to pay the entire fee in "increments," see 7 Williams, 775 F.3d at 1185, regardless of whether his case is ultimately dismissed. See 8 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 9 A "prisoner" is defined as "any person" who at the time of filing is "incarcerated or 10 detained in any facility who is accused of, convicted of, sentenced for, or adjudicated 11 delinquent for, violations of criminal law or the terms or conditions of parole, probation, 12 pretrial release, or diversionary program." 28 U.S.C. § 1915(h); Taylor, 281 F.3d at 847. 13 Prisoners who seek leave to proceed IFP must also submit a "certified copy of the 14 trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for .,. the 6-month period 15 immediately preceding the filing of the complaint." 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2). From the 16 certified trust account statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the 17 average monthly deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average 18 monthly balance in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the 19 prisoner has no assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1), (4); Taylor, 281 F.3d at 850. 20 Thereafter, the institution having custody of the prisoner collects subsequent payments, 21 assessed at 20% of the preceding month's income, in any month in which the prisoner's 22 account exceeds $10, and forwards them to the Court until the entire filing fee is paid. 23 See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). 24 While Plaintiffhas filed aMotion to Proceed IFP pursuantto 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a), 25 he has not attached a certified copy of his trust account statements, or an institutional 26 27 1 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional 28 administrative fee of $50. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees) District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (efr. Dec. 1,2014). The additional $50 admmistrative fee does not apply to persons granted leave to proceed IFP. Id. -2- 150vl238 WQH (NLS) 1 equivalent, for the 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of his Complaint. 2 See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); S.D. CAL. ClvLR 3.2. Section 1915(a)(2) clearly requires 3 that prisoners "seeking to bring a civil action ... without prepayment of fees ... shall 4 submit a certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) 5 ... for the 6-month period immediately preceding the filing ofthe complaint." 28 U.S.C. 6 § 1915(a)(2) (emphasis added). 7 Without Plaintiff's trust account statement, the Court is simply unable to assess 8 the appropriate amount of initial filing fee which is statutorily required to initiate the 9 prosecution of this civil action. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(I). 10 II. CONCLUSION AND ORDER 11 For these reasons, IT IS ORDERED that: 12 (1) Plaintiff's Motion to Proceed IFP (ECF Doc. No.2) is DENIED and the 13 action is DISMISSED without prejudice for failure to prepay the $400 filing fee required 14 by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). 15 (2) Plaintiff is GRANTED forty-five (45) days from the date of this Order in 16 which to re-open his case by either: (1) paying the entire $400 statutory and 17 administrative filing fee, or (2) filing a new Motion to Proceed IFP, which includes a 18 certified copy ofhis trust account statementfor the 6-month period preceding the filing 19 of his Complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2) and S.D. CAL. CIvLR 3.2(b). 20 21 (3) The Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to provide Plaintiff with a Court- approved form "Motion and Declaration in Support of Motion to Proceed IFP" in this 22 matter. If Plaintiff neither pays the $400 filing fee in full nor sufficiently completes and 23 files the attached Motion to Proceed IFP, together with a certified copy of his trust 24 account statement within 45 days, this action will remained dismissed without prejudice 25 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a), and without further Order of the Court. 26 27 DATED: 28 t/y;1, /' 7 HON. WILLI . HAYES United States Distnct Judge -3- 15cv1238 WQH (NLS)

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