Owens v. Morales et al

Filing 13

ORDER of Instruction to plaintiff. Owens must place his "Response to Court Order" in his prison mail system, and affirm that he has done so, within fourteen days of the date of this Order. Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 3/2/2015. (loh)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
JACKIE D. OWENS,

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Plaintiff,

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V.

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Case No. CV414-273

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JOSE MORALES, et al.,

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Defendants.

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ORDER
Inmate Jackie D. Owens filed this 42 U.S.C. § 1983, prisonconditions complaint arising from: (a) his medical treatment (prison
officials' failure to timely avail him his prescribed leg brace and
adequately treat his hepatitis-C infection); (b) retaliation for using his
prison's grievance process; and (c) his prison's constructive denial of his
access to the courts by failing to avail him free copying and return
postage to enable court filings). Doc. 1. He seeks damages and
injunctive relief. Id. at 10 . 1

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As Owens is proceeding in forma pauperis (IFP), docs. 5, 9 & 10, the Court is
screening his case under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii), to determine whether he has

Owens did not use a Court-supplied § 1983 form complaint,' which
would have asked him about any prior lawsuits (the Court has located a
"Jackie D. Owens" lawsuit on PACER: Owens v. Summers, CV497-247,
doc. 7 (N.D. Ga. July 13, 1997) (Order refusing to certify good faith of
appeal from "motion of bias" ruling)). Also, Congress requires indigent
inmates to pay the full filing fee for every lawsuit they file. They may
pay it over time, but not avoid it. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1)-(2).
Part of the IFP process this Court uses to implement § 1915(b)(1)(2)'s "installment plan" requires prisoners to return a fully executed

stated a cognizable claim for relief. See also 28 U.S.C. § 1915A (courts must identify
"cognizable claims" filed by prisoners or other detainees and dismiss claims which
are frivolous, malicious, fail to state a claim for relief, or seek monetary relief from a
defendant immune from such relief, and 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(c)(2) (allowing dismissal
on the same four standards provided by § 1915A as to any prisoner suit brought
"with respect to prison conditions").
The Court applies Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) standards here. Leal v. Ga. Dep't of
Corrs., 254 F.3d 1276, 1278-79 (11th Cir. 2001). Allegations in the complaint are
thus viewed as true and construed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.
Bumpus v. Watts, 448 F. App'x 3, 4 n. 1 (11th Cir. 2011). But conclusory allegations
fail. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (discussing a 12(b)(6) dismissal).
"[TJhe pleading standard [Fed. R. Civ. P.] 8 announces does not require 'detailed
factual allegations,' but it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendantunlawfully-harmed-me accusation." Id. (citations omitted); see also Hebbe v. Pliler,
627 F.3d 338, 342 (9th Cir. 2010) (pro se pleadings are still construed liberally after
Iqbal).
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It is available here: http://www.gasd.uscourts.gov/pdf/prisonerl983.pdf
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Consent form (each thus consents to the direct collection of the $350 fee
from his prison account), doe. 9, and a fully completed "Prison Trust
Fund Account Statement." Doc 10. Owens' Statement is signed by a
Prison Account Custodian who left blank the form's "Average Monthly
Deposits" and "Average Monthly Balance" fields. Doe. 10 at 1. That
data is needed to implement § 1915(b)(1)-(2)'s payment requirements.
Accordingly, the Court DIRECTS the Clerk to send Owens a new
"Prison Trust Fund Account Statement" form, plus two copies of this
Order. Owens must re-submit that form, along with the second copy of
this Order, to his account custodian. The custodian shall return the
properly completed Statement form within 14 days of the date he receives
the blank form from Owens.
Meanwhile, the Court will accept plaintiff's "home-brewed"
Complaint, but he must disclose, in a "Response to Court Order" filing,
the existence of any additional lawsuits he has filed in the past (include,
as best he is able, the case name, court, case-filing number and what
became of each case). He must place that response within his prison's
mail system, and affirm that he has done so, within 14 days of the date
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this Order is served. On that same "Response" he must also affirm the
date on which he gave the repeat Account Statement form to his
custodian. He must then sign his Response after first writing, ahead of
his signature: "under penalty of perjury, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I
declare all factual assertions made by me here are true."' His failure to
comply with these directives subjects him to a recommendation that his
case be dismissed. The Court will finish screening plaintiffs Complaint
once these directives are satisfied.
SO ORDERED, this ,2 day of March, 2015.

UNITED STATE,9 MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

Whether in a witness chair before this Court or while crafting court filings in a
prison cell, no one (especially a convicted criminal) is permitted to lie to or otherwise
knowingly mislead this Court. All must swear to any facts advanced in quest of
judicial relief, and thus may be subject to criminal prosecution if they commit
perjury, or submit a false declaration in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1623(a). See, e.g.,
United States v. Dickerson, CR608-36, doc. 47 (S.D. Ga. Dec. 11, 2008) (convicted of
violating 18 U.S.C. § 1623(a) while seeking 28 U.S.C. § 2255 relief); aff'd, 2010 WL
4409382 (11th Cir. Nov. 8, 2010), Irick v. United States, 2009 WL 2992562 at * 2
(S.D. Ga. Sept. 17, 2009); Hayes v. United States, 2011 WL 3468799 at * 5 (S.D. Ga.
Aug. 9, 2011).
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