Anthony Jordan Tennessee, Jr. v. A. Enriquez, Correctional Officer; J. Sanchez, Correctional Officer; C. Flores, Correctional Officer; A. Quintana, Correctional Officer

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedNovember 4, 2025
Docket3:25-cv-02026
StatusUnknown

This text of Anthony Jordan Tennessee, Jr. v. A. Enriquez, Correctional Officer; J. Sanchez, Correctional Officer; C. Flores, Correctional Officer; A. Quintana, Correctional Officer (Anthony Jordan Tennessee, Jr. v. A. Enriquez, Correctional Officer; J. Sanchez, Correctional Officer; C. Flores, Correctional Officer; A. Quintana, Correctional Officer) 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
Anthony Jordan Tennessee, Jr. v. A. Enriquez, Correctional Officer; J. Sanchez, Correctional Officer; C. Flores, Correctional Officer; A. Quintana, Correctional Officer, (S.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ANTHONY JORDAN TENNESSEE, Jr., Case No.: 25cv2026-LL-JLB CDCR #BC-4511, 12 ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO Plaintiff, 13 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS v. AND DIRECTING U.S. MARSHAL 14 TO EFFECT SERVICE OF A. ENRIQUEZ, Correctional Officer; 15 SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT J. SANCHEZ, Correctional Officer; UPON THE NAMED 16 C. FLORES, Correctional Officer; DEFENDANTS UNDER 28 U.S.C. A. QUINTANA, Correctional Officer; 17 § 1915(d) AND Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(c)(3) C. PRIETO, Correctional Sergeant;

18 JOHN DOE, Correctional Lieutenant; [ECF No. 2] 19 Defendants. 20 21 22 Plaintiff Anthony Jordan Tennessee, Jr., acting pro se and currently incarcerated at 23 California State Prison, Sacramento (“CSP-SAC”) in Represa, California, has filed a civil 24 rights Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, together with a Motion to Proceed In Forma 25 Pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See ECF No. 1 (“Compl.”); ECF No. 2 (“IFP”). 26 Plaintiff claims several prison officials at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San 27 Diego (“RJD”) used excessive force, failed to protect him, and refused to provide medical 28 care for injuries sustained during a cell extraction while he was incarcerated there on 1 November 22, 2023. See Compl. at 4‒6. He seeks $250,000 in general and punitive 2 damages and demands a jury trial. Id. at 10. 3 For the reasons below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP, 4 screens his Complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) and 1915A(b), finds it alleges 5 plausible Eighth Amendment excessive claims for relief and DIRECTS the U.S. Marshal 6 to effect service of process upon the named Defendants pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d) 7 and Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(c)(3) on Plaintiff’s behalf. 8 I. MOTION TO PROCEED IFP 9 Parties instituting most civil actions in federal court must pay a filing fee of $405. 10 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a); Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee 11 Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2023). The action may proceed despite a failure to pay the 12 entire fee at the time of filing only if the court grants the Plaintiff leave to proceed IFP 13 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 14 2007); cf. Hymas v. U.S. Dep’t of the Interior, 73 F.4th 763, 765 (9th Cir. 2023) (“[W]here 15 [an] IFP application is denied altogether, Plaintiff’s case [cannot] proceed unless and until 16 the fee[s] [a]re paid.”). 17 “While the previous version of the IFP statute granted courts the authority to waive 18 fees for any person ‘unable to pay[,]’ … the PLRA [Prison Litigation Reform Act] 19 amended the IFP statute to include a carve-out for prisoners: under the current version of 20 the IFP statute, ‘if a prisoner brings a civil action or files an appeal in forma pauperis, the 21 prisoner shall be required to pay the full amount of a filing fee.’” Hymas, 73 F.4th at 767 22

23 1 The Court judicially notices that Plaintiff filed another civil rights action on the same day 24 in Tennessee v. Camacho, et al., S.D. Cal. Case No. 25-cv-2027-DMS-KSC (ECF No. 1) 25 (filed August 8, 2025) (“Camacho”); see United States v. Wilson, 631 F.2d 118, 119 (9th Cir. 1980) (“[A] court may take judicial notice of its own records in other cases.”). 26 However, in Camacho, Plaintiff seeks to sue different RJD correctional officials who are 27 alleged to have used excessive force against him a month prior to the cell extraction at issue here. See Camacho, ECF No. 1, at 1‒3. He does not claim that the two incidents are related. 28 1 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1)). Section 1915(b) “provides a structured timeline for 2 collecting this fee.” Id. (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1)-(2)). 3 To proceed IFP, prisoners must “submit[] an affidavit that includes a statement of 4 all assets [they] possess[,]” as well as “a “certified copy of the[ir] trust fund account 5 statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 6-month period immediately preceding 6 the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1), (2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 7 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). Using this financial information, the court “shall assess and when 8 funds exist, collect, … an initial partial filing fee,” which is “calculated based on ‘the 9 average monthly deposits to the prisoner’s account’ or ‘the average monthly balance in the 10 prisoner’s account’ over a 6-month term; the remainder of the fee is to be paid in ‘monthly 11 payments of 20 percent of the preceding month’s income credited to the prisoner’s 12 account.” Hymas, 73 F.4th at 767 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1)–(2)). Thus, while 13 prisoners may qualify to proceed IFP without having to pay the statutory filing fee in one 14 lump sum, they nevertheless remain obligated to pay the full amount due in monthly 15 payments. See Bruce v. Samuels, 577 U.S. 82, 84 (2016); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (2); 16 Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 17 Here, Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP complies with both 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1) 18 and (2). In support, Plaintiff has submitted a prison certificate authorized by a CSP-SAC 19 accounting officer and certified copies of his California Department of Corrections and 20 Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) Inmate Trust Account Statement Report. See ECF No. 2 at 5‒7; 21 see also S.D. Cal. CivLR 3.2; Andrews, 398 F.3d at 1119. These documents show Plaintiff 22 maintained an average monthly balance of $9.75 in his prison trust account, and had $5.00 23 in average monthly deposits credited to his account over the 6-month period immediately 24 preceding the filing of his Complaint. At the time of filing, however, Plaintiff’s available 25 balance was only $0.18. See ECF No. 2 at 5, 7. 26 Accordingly, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP (ECF No. 2) 27 and assesses an initial partial filing fee of $1.95 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). This 28 initial fee need be collected, however, only if sufficient funds are available in Plaintiff’s 1 account at the time this Order is executed. See 28 U.S.C.

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Anthony Jordan Tennessee, Jr. v. A. Enriquez, Correctional Officer; J. Sanchez, Correctional Officer; C. Flores, Correctional Officer; A. Quintana, Correctional Officer, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anthony-jordan-tennessee-jr-v-a-enriquez-correctional-officer-j-casd-2025.