THOMPSON v. CHOICE AUTO SALES et al

Filing 13

ORDER OF COURT DENYING 12 Plaintiff's Motion for Reconsideration. Mailed to Pro Se Plaintiff this same day. Signed by Judge Arthur J. Schwab on 10/24/2012. (lcb)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
LYNNE THOMPSON,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
vs.
)
)
CHOICE AUTO SALES; LENNY
)
HAUCK, General Manager; KURT, Owner )
of Choice Auto Sales; MURRYSVILLE
)
POLICE DEPARTMENT; JOHN DEVLIN, )
Detective for the Murrysville Police Depart- )
ment,
)
)
Defendants. )

Civil Action No. 12-925

Judge Arthur J. Schwab/
Magistrate Judge Maureen P. Kelly
Re: ECF No. 12

MEMORANDUM ORDER
In August 2012, the Magistrate Judge filed a Report and Recommendation (the “Report”)
recommending that Plaintiff Lynne Thompson’s Motion for Leave to Proceed In Forma
Pauperis (“IFP Motion”) be denied because she has acquired “three strikes.” ECF No. 3. No
objections were filed by the deadline and we noted this fact in the order adopting the Report, by
which we also ordered that Plaintiff pay the filing fee by a date certain. ECF No. 5. Plaintiff
then filed a Motion to Extension of Time in Which to File her Objections. ECF No. 5. She then
filed her Objections. ECF No. 6. Only subsequently, did the Court grant her Motion for
Extension of Time, and simultaneously vacated the Order adopting the Report. ECF No. 7.
Thereafter, on October 12, 2012, the Court upon de novo review of the Objections and the
Report, again denied Plaintiff’s IFP Motion and ordered Plaintiff to pay the entire filing fee by
October 24, 2012. ECF No. 9. On October 16, 2102, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Replacement
of Objections wherein she sought to rectify the fact that in our order adopting the Report, we

noted that no objections were filed. ECF No. 10. The following day, October 17, 2012, the
Clerks’ Office received “Objections” which, although shorter than the Objections originally
filed, did not add any new grounds for objecting to the Report. ECF No. 11. On October 19,
2012, by text order, the Magistrate Judge denied Plaintiff’s Motion for Replacement of
Objections as moot.
Plaintiff has now filed a Motion for Reconsideration, wherein she requests that this Court
to reconsider its order denying her IFP Motion or, in the alternative, to permit her to pay a
reduced filing fee or in the alternative to hold this case in abeyance to give her more time to find
funds to pay the filing fee. ECF No. 12. The filing fee is set by statute and this Court has no
authority to alter the statutory filing fee other than in accord with the IFP statute, which does not
permit a lower filing fee for prisoners. 29 U.S.C. § 1915. Hence, we deny her request to be
permitted to pay a lower filing fee. To the extent that she requests that we hold this case in
abeyance until such time as she can gather the funds, we note that in her IFP Motion when asked
to list “[o]ther information relevant to plaintiff’s financial status” Plaintiff responded with
“N/A.” ECF No. 1 at 2, ¶ 3. If she had means to obtain funds, she should have informed the
Court then that she did. Either she has access to funds or she does not. If she does, she was
bound to disclose that in her IFP Motion. Plaintiff fails to say when she might be able to acquire
such funds or how long she wants this Court to hold this case in abeyance. We note that she has
been on notice since at least August 24, 2012, with the filing of the Report that she might have to

2

pay the entire filing fee. In light of the foregoing, we hereby DENY Plaintiff’s Motion for
Reconsideration. Plaintiff must pay the full filing fee by October 24, 2012, or the case will be
dismissed for failure to prosecute.
s/ Arthur J. Schwab
Arthur J. Schwab
United States District Judge

Dated: October 24, 2012
cc:

Maureen P. Kelly
United States Magistrate Judge
LYNNE THOMPSON
OT 0636
SCI Cambridge Springs
451 Fullerton Avenue
Cambridge Springs, PA 16403-1238

3