Carter, Tommie v. Waterman, Jolinda

Filing 3

ORDER that plaintiff is to pay the $400 filing fee or submit Trust fund account statement. ($400 filing fee or Trust Fund Account Statement due 11/27/2013. ) Signed by Magistrate Judge Peter A. Oppeneer on 11/1/2013. (jef),(ps)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

TOMMIE L. CARTER,
Plaintiff,

ORDER
13-cv-742-wmc

JOLINDA J. WATERMAN,
Defendant.

Plaintiff Tommie Carter, a prisoner incarcerated in the Wisconsin Department of
Corrections at the Green Bay Correctional Institution, has filed a proposed civil action under
42 U.S.C. § 1983. With the exception of habeas corpus proceedings, the fee for civil actions
filed after May 1, 2013 is $400 unless a litigant qualifies as indigent under the federal in
forma pauperis statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1915, in which case the fee is $350. Plaintiff has
submitted a motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis. (Dkt. # 2). The court cannot
consider this motion, however, because it lacks information regarding plaintiff’s eligibility
for indigent status.
To the extent that plaintiff wishes to proceed in forma pauperis, he must comply with
the Prisoner Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b), which requires indigent
inmates to pay by installment the entire filing fee for civil actions and appeals. The federal
in forma pauperis statute does not permit a court to waive a prisoner’s entire obligation to pay
filing fees, but it does allow a qualifying individual to proceed without prepaying some or all
of the filing fee. To determine whether a prisoner qualifies as indigent, his motion for leave
to proceed in forma pauperis must include a certified copy of his inmate trust fund account
statement (or institutional equivalent) for the six-month period immediately preceding the

date of his complaint.

28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2).

Plaintiff has failed to satisfy this

requirement.
Until plaintiff pays the fee or provides documentation in support of his request for
indigent status, the court will take no further action in this case. Accordingly, plaintiff must
either pay the $400 filing fee or submit a copy of his trust fund account statement no later
than November 27, 2013.
ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that:
1.

No later than November 27, 2013, plaintiff Tommie L. Carter shall pay the
$400 filing fee or submit a certified copy of his trust fund account statement
for the six-month period from the date of the complaint (October 12, 2013
through at least April 12, 2012).

2.

Plaintiff is advised that, if he fails to comply as directed or show cause
of his failure to do so, the court will assume that he does not wish to
proceed and this case will be dismissed without further notice pursuant
to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a).

Entered this 1st day of November, 2013.
BY THE COURT:

/s/
PETER OPPENEER
Magistrate Judge

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