Buchanan v. Dart et al

Filing 20

MEMORANDUM Order Signed by the Honorable Milton I. Shadur on March 25, 2014.(mr, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION
RAETELL M. BUCHANAN,
Plaintiff,
v.
THOMAS DART, et al.,
Defendants.

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Case No. 14 C 27

MEMORANDUM ORDER
Apparently the third time does sometime prove the charm. After this Court had issued
repeated memorandum orders (Docket 6 dated January 9, 2014, Docket 12 dated February 26,
2014 and Docket 16 dated March 11, 2014), Cook County Department of Corrections ("Cook
County Jail") inmate Raetell Buchanan ("Buchanan") has finally provided the information
necessary to allow this Court to make the determination called for by 28 U.S.C. 1915 ("Section
1915"). Despite Buchanan's initial noncompliance with that requirement, this Court's review of
his original pro se Complaint led it to designate counsel to represent Buchanan from the very
outset. Because under the circumstances it would be unfair to allow Buchanan to derive a
benefit from his tardy compliance, this memorandum order will go beyond setting the initial
partial payment on account of the filing fee, as called for in Section 1915(b)(1).
With Buchanan's current filing having identified December 27, 2013 as his probable
filing date of the Complaint (when given the benefit of the "mailbox rule" under Houston v.
Lack, 487 U.S. 266 (1988)), the average monthly deposits to his trust fund account during the
six-month period from June 28 through December 27, 2013 (see Section 1915(b)(1)(A)) came to
$41.67, 20% of which (id.) amounted to $8.33. Hence this Court grants Buchanan's In Forma

Pauperis Application in accordance with the standards of Section 1915, so that he must pay the
entire $350 filing fee on the installment plan. In the present situation what that means is this:
1.

$8.33 is the initial partial filing fee.

2.

Section 1915(b)(2) requires Buchanan to "make monthly payments of
20 percent of the preceding month's income credited to the prisoner's
account." As of March 4, 2014 (the last date covered by the trust fund
account printout previously provided by Buchanan's appointed counsel)
the deposits that had been made since December 27, 2013 added up to
$135, so that another $27 (20% of that figure) must be remitted to the
Clerk's Office forthwith.

3.

Beginning with the month of March 2014 (except that the $30 deposit on
March 4 should be omitted from the calculation), the trust fund officer at
Cook County Jail is ordered to comply with the above-ordered statutory
directive until the full $350 filing fee has been paid.

Accordingly the Cook County Jail trust fund officer is ordered to collect $35.33 from
Buchanan's trust fund account there and to pay it directly to the Clerk of Court ("Clerk"):
Office of the Clerk
United States District Court
219 South Dearborn Street
Chicago IL 60604
Attention: Fiscal Department
After such payment the trust fund officer at Cook County Jail (or at any other correctional
facility where Buchanan may hereafter be confined) is authorized to collect monthly payments
from his trust fund account in an amount equal to 20% of the preceding month's income credited
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to the account. Monthly payments collected from the trust fund account shall be forwarded to
the Clerk each time the amount in the account exceeds $10 until the full $350 filing fee is paid.
Both the initial payment and all future payments shall clearly identify Buchanan's name and the
14 C 27 case number assigned to this action. To implement these requirements, the Clerk shall
send a copy of this order to the Cook County Jail trust fund officer.

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Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge
Date: March 25, 2014

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