Arellano v. Olson

District Court, S.D. California·Decided February 4, 2022·No. 3:21-cv-01685·Unknown

Opinion

RAUL ARELLANO, Case No.: 21-cv-1685-MMA (MSB) CDCR #AH-1995, ORDER: (1) GRANTING MOTION Plaintiff, vs. PAUPERIS; (2) DENYING MOTION FOR COURT TO HOLD R. OLSON, SCREENING; AND (3) DISMISSING Defendant. COMPLAINT FOR FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) AND 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)

[Doc. Nos. 2, 6]

Plaintiff Raul Arellano, incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility Prison (“RJD”), proceeding pro se and a frequent litigant in this district, has filed new civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Doc. No. 1 (“Compl.”). Plaintiff’s latest suit is an attempt to relitigate retaliation claims against RJD Appeals Coordinator R. Olson, which arose in 2014, but were dismissed without prejudice based on his failure to exhaust them in Arellano v. Self, et al., S.D. Cal. Civil Case No. 3:15-cv-2300-AJB-LL (“Olson I”). Plaintiff has not prepaid the filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) to commence a new civil action. Instead, he filed a Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). Doc. No. 2. Soon after, Plaintiff filed a Motion requesting that the Court “hold the screening process” while his Motion for Reconsideration pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) remained pending in Olson I. Doc. No. 6. Because Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration has since been denied however, see Olson I at Doc. No. 104, the Court DENIES AS MOOT Plaintiff’s request that the Court defer its mandatory screening of his newly filed Complaint, Doc. No. 6. All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of $402.2 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez v. Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). The fee is not waived for prisoners, however. If granted leave to proceed IFP, they nevertheless remain obligated to pay the entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” Bruce v. Samuels, 577 U.S. 82, 84 (2016); Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 2015), and regardless of whether their 1 Plaintiff admits his “case was priorly [sic] litigated” in Olson I, S.D. Cal. Civil Case No. 3:15-cv- 2300-AJB-LL, on the face of his new Complaint. Compl. at 3. Even if he had not, however, the Court may take judicial notice of “‘proceedings in other courts, both within and without the federal judicial system, if those proceedings have a direct relation to matters at issue.’” Bias v. Moynihan, 508 F.3d 1212, 1225 (9th Cir. 2007) (quoting Bennett v. Medtronic, Inc., 285 F.3d 801, 803 n.2 (9th Cir. 2002)); see also Est. of Blue v. County of Los Angeles, 120 F.3d 982, 984 (9th Cir. 1997) (taking judicial notice of court filings in a related case to affirm the district court’s decision to dismiss the plaintiff’s complaint as untimely and deny the plaintiff equitable tolling). 2 Effective December 1, 2020, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative fee of $52, in addition to the $350 filing fee set by statute. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2020)). The $52 administrative fee does not actions are dismissed for other reasons. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1), (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). To qualify, section 1915(a)(2) requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a “certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified trust account statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average monthly deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly balance in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner has no assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). The institution having custody of the prisoner then collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the preceding month’s income, in any month in which his account exceeds $10, and forwards those payments to the Court until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2); Bruce, 577 U.S. at 84. In support of his IFP Motion, Plaintiff has submitted a copy of his California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) Inmate Statement Report, as well as a prison certificate authorized by a RJD Accounting Officer. Doc. No. 3; see also 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); CivLR 3.2; Andrews, 398 F.3d at 1119. These documents show Plaintiff carried no balance, had no money deposited to his trust account during the six- months prior to filing, and had no money to his credit at the time he filed suit.3 Doc. No. 3 at 1, 3. Therefore, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP and declines to assess any initial filing fee because his trust account statements show he “has no means to

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