Cooper v. State of Georgia et al

Filing 3

ORDERED that the Court will grant the 2 MOTION for Leave to Proceed in forma pauperis filed by Willis Cooper if the plaintiff can not afford to pay the cost of litigation. Plaintiff must comply within 14 days. Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 4/22/13. (wwp)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
WILLIS COOPER,
Plaintiff,
Case No. CV413-091

V.

STATE OF GEORGIA;
DAVID LOWE,
Director, Child Support Agency;
CARROL BHANNEN,
Child Support Agency,
Defendants.

ORDER
Proceeding pro Se, plaintiff Willis Cooper seeks leave to file, without
prepayment of the Court's filing fee, this putative 42 U.S.C. § 1983 "civil
rights" case' against the State of Georgia and child support officials after
decades of child-support enforcement efforts against him. Docs 1 & 2.
The Court will grant leave to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) if the
plaintiff demonstrates that he cannot, because of poverty, afford to pay

1 He does not specify any particular remedy.
1

the costs of litigation and still provide for himself and any dependents.
28 U.S.C. § 1915(a); Adkins v. E.I. Dupont de Nemours, 335 U.S. 331, 339
(1948); Martinez u. Kristi Kleaners, Inc., 364 F.3d 1305, 1307 (11th Cir.
2007). He need not be absolutely destitute in order to proceed IFP, but
the fact that financing his own litigation may cause some difficulty is not
sufficient to relieve him of his obligation to pay his own way where it is
possible for him to do so without undue hardship. Adkins, 335 U.S. at
339-340.
Cooper says he is unemployed with no source of income of any
kind, and has no money at all. Doc. 2 at 1-2. Plus he is saddled with
medical bill debt. Id. at 2. The obvious question, then, is how does he
live? Is he on the street? Feeding himself from hand-outs?
Completely penniless? If so, he must declare this to be true under
penalty of perjury, per the 28 U.S.C. § 1746 affirmation on the new IFP
form that the Clerk shall furnish when serving him with this Order.
Within that affirmation he must supply his present address and, if he
lives in any form of housing, who owns it and what arrangements are
associated (e.g., whether he is living rent-free, exchanging his labor for

rent, etc.). He must comply within 14 days or face dismissal of this
case.
SO ORDERED, this e ; of April, 2013.
day

UNFFEI S ATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUThERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA