Gatson v. Bergen County Prosecutor's Office et al

Filing 15

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER denying Plaintiff's request to proceed in forma pauperis, and directing the Clerk to administratively terminate the case w/out filing the complaint. If Plaintiff wishes to reopen this case, he shall so notify the Court, i n writing addressed to the Clerk of the Court, Martin Luther King Building & U.S. Courthouse, 50 Walnut Street, Newark, NJ 07102, within 90 days of the date of entry of this Order, and Plaintiffs writing shall include the $400 fee, ($350 filing fee plus the $50 administrative fee); etc. Signed by Judge Claire C. Cecchi on 5/4/16. (sr, ) (N/M)

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

TOKYO GATSON,
Civil Action No. 15-7671 (CCC)
Plaintiff,
v.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR’S
OFFICE, et al.,
Defendants.

CECCHI, District Judge.

Plaintiff Tokyo Gatson, a prisoner currently confined at the Essex County Correctional
Facility in Newark, New Jersey, seeks to bring this civil action informa pauperis (“IFP”), without
prepayment of fees or security, asserting claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C.

§ 1983. The Court

previously denied Plaintiffs initial IfP application, due to his failure to submit a proper six-month
account statement. (See ECF No. 10.) Presently before the Court is Plaintiffs second IFP
application, with a six-month account statement attached. (ECF No. 13.)
Because the Complaint was filed on June 24, 2015, (see ECf No. 1), under the IFP statute,
the proper six-month account statement should have been for the period between December 24,
2014 and June 24, 2015. See 28 U.S.C.

§ 1915(a)(2) (a prisoner seeking IFP status shall “submit

a certified copy of the trust fund statement.. for the prisoner for the 6-month period immediately
.

preceding the filing of the complaint”) (emphasis added). As such, Plaintiffs submitted account
statement, covering the period between August 28, 2015 and february 4, 2016, is technically noncompliant with the statute.

Nevertheless, regardless of the procedural defects, the account

statement shows that in the six-month period addressed by the statement, Plaintiff received an
income of$l,731.75. This amounts to an income of $288.63 per month.
In Shahin v. Sec. ofDel., 532 F. App’x 123, 124 (3d Cir. 2013), the Third Circuit upheld
an IFP denial by the district court, even when the plaintiff showed that she only had a monthly
income of $95 from self-employment. Because the plaintiff was provided, by her husband, “with
food, clothing, shelter, paying her medical and travel expenses and even her business losses,” the
Third Circuit reasoned, “requiring [plaintiff] to pay her own litigation expenses, although requiring
her to save for several months, would not deprive her of the ‘necessities of life.” Id. Here,
Plaintiffs income is almost three times

the $95/month threshold established in Shahin, and

Plaintiff is also similarly situated in that he has his food, clothing, shelter, and medical expenses
paid for by the prison. Like the plaintiff in Shah in, Plaintiff may have to save up for two or three
months in order to pay the filing fee, but such requirement “would not deprive [him] of the
‘necessities of life.” 532 F. App’x at 124.
IT IS therefore on this

day of

fr

,

2016,

ORDERED Plaintiffs request to proceed in forma pauperis, ECF No. 13, is hereby
DENIED; it is further
ORDERED the Clerk of the Court shall ADMINISTRATIVELY TERMINATE this
case, without filing the complaint; it is further
ORDERED if Plaintiff wishes to reopen this case, he shall so notify the Court, in writing
addressed to the Clerk of the Court, Martin Luther King Building & U.S. Courthouse, 50 Walnut
Street, Newark, NJ 07102, within ninety (90) days of the date of entry of this Order; Plaintiffs
writing shall include the $400 fee—the $350 filing fee plus the $50 administrative fee; it is further

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ORDERED upon receipt of a writing from Plaintiff stating that he wishes to reopen this

case, and payment of the filing and administrative fees within the time allotted by this Court, the
Clerk will be directed to reopen this case; and it is further
ORDERED the Clerk of the Court shall serve a copy of this Order upon Plaintiff by regular
U.S. mail.
SO ORDERED.

Claire C. Cecchi, U.S.D.J.

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