Rector v. Stamps et al

Filing 24

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff's request to voluntarily dismiss this action is GRANTED.IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that plaintiffs request for waiver of the filing fee in this action is DENIED.IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this action is DISMISSED. 23 ; Terminate Case. Signed by District Judge John A. Ross on 9/19/18. (KKS)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
NORTHERN DIVISION

JERRYL. RECTOR,
Plaintiff,
V.

DR. RUANNE STAMPS, et al.,
Defendants.

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No. 2:18-CV-0001 JAR

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

This matter is before the Court on plaintiffs motion to dismiss this case and to excuse
plaintiff from paying the statutory filing fee. Plaintiffs request for voluntary dismissal will be
granted, however, his request for waiver of the filing fee must be denied under the Prison
Litigation Reform Act. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915.
Plaintiff, a prisoner, filed his complaint in this case along with a motion to proceed in
forma pauperis on January 4, 2018. The Court reviewed plaintiffs complaint pursuant to the
Prisoner Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA") and found that several claims in the complaint relating
to plaintiffs assertions of deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs survive~ review
under 28 U.S.C. § 1915. Consequently, the Court granted the motion to proceed in forma pauperis
and ordered the Clerk to issue process or cause process to issue on portions of the complaint on
March 23, 2018.
Plaintiff now moves to dismiss this case and to be excused from paying the filing fee. He
asserts that he had been pursuing the action to "help future inmates at MCC facility who had
medical problems." However, plaintiff claims that he would now like to voluntarily dismiss this
action because "defendants are doing what is possible to correct the· problem." Nonetheless,

plaintiff states that he would like to request that the Court "not take any more money out of [his]
account to pay for the filing fee."
Under the PLRA, "if a prisoner brings a civil action or files an appeal in forma pauperis, the
prisoner shall be required to pay the full amount of a filing fee."

28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(l)

(emphasis added). "[N]othing allows the court to stop the collection of the filing fee once [it]
authorize[s] a prisoner to proceed in forma pauperis [und~r 28 U.S.C. § 1915]. Copley v. ·

Henderson, 980 F.Supp. 322, 323 (D. Neb. 1997). "Thus, prisoners should understand that from
the moment we allow them to proceed in forma pauperis, they owe the United States of America
the full filing fee, and this is true even if they voluntarily dismiss their cases." Id.
Because the Court has granted plaintiffs application to proceed in forma pauperis in this
case, the PLRA requires that plaintiff pay the required filing fee. As a result, plaintiffs request for
voluntary dismissal of this action will be granted, however, he will still be required to pay the full
filing fee in this action.
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff's request to voluntarily dismiss this action is
GRANTED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that plaintiffs request for waiver of the filing fee in this

action is DENIED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this action is DISMISSED.

Dated this 19th day of September, 2018.

.ROSS
D STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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