Jackson v. Stolworthy et al

Filing 11

STRICKEN as duplicate filing per 13 (dsw).

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
STEVIE JACKSON,
B63752,
Plaintiff,

Case No. 17-cv-420-DRH

vs.
DONALD STOLWORTHY, et al.,
Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
HERNDON, District Judge:
This matter is before the Court on plaintiff’s pending motions pertaining to
his unpaid filing fee. (Docs 8, 9, & 10). Plaintiff’s Complaint was filed on April
24, 2017.

(Doc. 1).

That same day, the Clerk of Court sent plaintiff a letter

directing him to pay the filing fee or file an IFP Motion within 30 days from the
date of the letter.

(Doc. 4).

Plaintiff subsequently filed motions wherein he

alleged that he authorized the Trust Fund Account Officer to submit the $400.00
filing fee in April 2017. (Docs. 5 & 6). As support for this assertion, plaintiff
attached records indicating that the Trust Fund Account Officer issued a $400.00
check on plaintiff's behalf. (Doc. 6, pp. 2-3) (reflecting that $400.00 was
withdrawn from plaintiff's account in relation to filing a lawsuit in the Southern
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District of Illinois – Check No. 149399). One of the attached records included a
written note, apparently from the Trust Fund Account Officer, stating “As you can
see – the trust officer received your voucher on 4/13/17 and the check was
processed the same day.” (Doc. 6, p. 2). Another record indicated that the check
was mailed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
in Benton. (Doc. 6, p. 3). The Court, however, never received a filing fee from the
plaintiff.

(Doc. 7).

Accordingly, on May 30, 2017, the Court issued an order

informing plaintiff that the Court had not received plaintiff’s filing fee and allowing
an extension. (Doc. 7).1
On June 13, 2017, plaintiff submitted additional motions to the Court.
(Doc. 9 & 10). The motions indicate that plaintiff has attempted to resolve this
matter with Menard’s Trust Fund Officer but is not receiving adequate assistance.
The motions ask the Court to order Menard to take various actions (order
Menard to mail Check No. 149399, order Menard to pay plaintiff’s filing fee, order
Menard to send the Court a second check). The relief sought by Plaintiff places
the Court at risk of interfering “in the minutiae of prison operations.” Lewis v.
Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 362 (1996) (citing Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 562

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The Order provided as follows:
It is apparent that Plaintiff has attempted to pay his filing fee. Accordingly, the
Court will grant the requested extension in order to allow Plaintiff time to locate or
cancel the missing check and submit a new check to the Court. Plaintiff is
ALLOWED until June 29, 2017 to provide the Court with a filing fee of $400.00 or
a properly completed IFP Motion. The Court is sympathetic to the difficulties
Plaintiff appears to be experiencing with the missing check. Nonetheless, this action
cannot proceed until Plaintiff pays his filing fee or submits a properly completed
IFP Motion.

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(1979)). The Court is cognizant of the Supreme Court’s admonition regarding
taking such action. Id. Accordingly, the plaintiff’s motions will be denied at this
time.
However, the Court is also cognizant of Seventh Circuit authority regarding
a district court’s duty, prior to dismissing an action for failure to pay a filing fee,
to conduct the inquiry necessary to determine that the failure is attributable to the
prisoner's negligence or misconduct rather than circumstances beyond his
control.

See Thomas v. Butts, 745 F.3d 309, 313 (7th Cir. 2014); Sultan v.

Fenoglio, 775 F.3d 888, 890 (7th Cir. 2015).

Considering the allegations

pertaining to plaintiff’s filing fee (discussed above), the Court concludes that
additional inquiry is appropriate.
Accordingly, the Court ORDERS Menard’s Trust Fund Account Officer to
provide the Court with information pertaining to Check No. 149399, including (1)
whether the check was issued and mailed to this Court in association with the
above captioned action; (2) whether the check has been cashed; and (3) if the
check is indeed missing, whether Menard can work with Plaintiff to cancel or stop
payment on the check and issue a new check. The Trust Fund Account Officer
shall provide the Court with the above information on or before June 29,
2017.
Plaintiff’s deadline with regard to paying the filing fee is hereby extended to
a date to be determined by the Court.

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The Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to terminate Plaintiff’s pending
Motions (Doc. 8, Motion for Status shall be terminated as MOOT; Doc. 9 and Doc.
10 are DENIED without prejudice).
The Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to mail a copy of this Memorandum
and Order to Plaintiff and to the Trust Fund Officer at Menard.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: June 18, 2017

Judge Herndon
2017.06.18
16:04:06 -05'00'
United States District Judge

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