Acuna v. Pollard

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJanuary 20, 2022
Docket3:21-cv-01910
StatusUnknown

This text of Acuna v. Pollard (Acuna v. Pollard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Acuna v. Pollard, (S.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ALEX ISTOK ACUNA Case No.: 21cv1910-LL-AGS CDCR #P-85538, 12 ORDER (1) GRANTING MOTION Plaintiff, 13 TO PROCEED IN FORMA vs. PAUPERIS [ECF No. 2] AND (2) 14 DISMISSING COMPLAINT FOR MARCUS POLLARD, Warden, M. 15 GLYNN, C.E.O.1, R. VARGAS, FAILING TO STATE A CLAIM PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. 16 Correctional Sergeant, C. GIPSON, § 1915(e)(2) AND 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b) Director of Adult Institutions, B. 17 HENDRICKS, C.D.W., HOWARD 18 MOSELY, Associate Director, STEADMAN, L.V.N, S. GATES, Health 19 Care Correspondence Appeals Branch, 20 Defendants. 21 22 Alex Acuna, (“Acuna” or “Plaintiff”), currently incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan 23 State Prison (“RJD”) located in San Diego, California, and proceeding pro se, has filed a 24 civil rights complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, together with a motion to proceed in 25 forma pauperis (“IFP”). See Compl., ECF No. 1; ECF No. 2. 26 27 28 1 I. Motion to Proceed IFP 2 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 3 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 4 $402.2 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 5 prepay the entire fee only if granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). 6 See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez v. Cook, 169 7 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, a prisoner who is granted leave to proceed IFP 8 remains obligated to pay the entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” Bruce v. Samuels, 9 577 U.S. 82, 85 (2016); Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 2015), and 10 regardless of whether the action is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1), (2); 11 Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 12 Section 1915(a)(2) requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a 13 “certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . . the 14 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. 15 § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified 16 trust account statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average 17 monthly deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly balance 18 in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner has no 19 assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). The institution having custody 20 of the prisoner then collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the preceding 21 month’s income, in any month in which his account exceeds $10, and forwards those 22 payments to the Court until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2); Bruce, 23 577 U.S. at 85. 24 25 2 In civil actions except for applications for a writ of habeas corpus, civil litigants bringing 26 suit must pay the $350 statutory fee in addition to a $52 administrative fee. See 28 U.S.C. 27 § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2020). The $52 administrative fee does not apply to persons granted leave to 28 1 In support of his IFP Motion, Acuna submitted a certified copy of his trust account 2 statement pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2) and S.D. Cal. Civ. L.R. 3.2. See ECF No. 2 3 at 5–7; Andrews, 398 F.3d at 1119. The Court has reviewed Acuna’s trust account activity, 4 as well as the attached prison certificate verifying his available balances. See ECF No. 2 at 5 5–7. These documents show that Acuna carried an average monthly balance of $0.00, had 6 average monthly deposits to his trust account for the six months preceding the filing of this 7 action of $0.00, and an available balance of $0.00 at the time of filing. See id. at 5. 8 Therefore, the Court GRANTS Acuna’s Motion to Proceed IFP (ECF No. 2) and 9 assesses no initial partial filing fee because his trust account statement shows he “has no 10 means to pay it.” Bruce, 577 U.S. at 84–85. The Court directs the Secretary of the 11 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) to collect the entire 12 $350 balance of the filling fees required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914 and forward them to the Clerk 13 of Court pursuant to the installment payment provisions set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). 14 Id. 15 II. Screening Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) and 1915A(b) 16 A. Standard of Review 17 Because Acuna is a prisoner, his Complaint requires a pre-answer screening pursuant 18 to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) and § 1915A(b). Under these statutes, the Court must sua 19 sponte dismiss a prisoner’s IFP complaint, or any portion of it, which is frivolous, 20 malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are immune. See 21 Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (discussing 28 U.S.C. 22 § 1915(e)(2)); Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) (discussing 28 23 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)). “The purpose of [screening] is ‘to ensure that the targets of frivolous 24 or malicious suits need not bear the expense of responding.’” Nordstrom v. Ryan, 762 F.3d 25 903, 920 n.1 (9th Cir. 2014) (citation omitted). 26 “The standard for determining whether Acuna has failed to state a claim upon which 27 relief can be granted under § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) is the same as the Federal Rule of Civil 28 Procedure 12(b)(6) standard for failure to state a claim.” Watison v. Carter, 668 F.3d 1108, 1 1112 (9th Cir. 2012); see also Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th Cir.

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Bluebook (online)
Acuna v. Pollard, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/acuna-v-pollard-casd-2022.