Arellano v. Olson

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedFebruary 4, 2022
Docket3:21-cv-01685
StatusUnknown

This text of Arellano v. Olson (Arellano v. Olson) 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
Arellano v. Olson, (S.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 RAUL ARELLANO, Case No.: 21-cv-1685-MMA (MSB) CDCR #AH-1995, 12 ORDER: (1) GRANTING MOTION Plaintiff, 13 TO PROCEED IN FORMA vs. PAUPERIS; (2) DENYING MOTION 14 FOR COURT TO HOLD R. OLSON, 15 SCREENING; AND (3) DISMISSING Defendant. COMPLAINT FOR FAILURE TO 16 STATE A CLAIM PURSUANT TO 17 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) AND 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b) 18

19 [Doc. Nos. 2, 6]

20 21 22 Plaintiff Raul Arellano, incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility 23 Prison (“RJD”), proceeding pro se and a frequent litigant in this district, has filed new 24 civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Doc. No. 1 (“Compl.”). Plaintiff’s latest 25 suit is an attempt to relitigate retaliation claims against RJD Appeals Coordinator R. 26 Olson, which arose in 2014, but were dismissed without prejudice based on his failure to 27 exhaust them in Arellano v. Self, et al., S.D. Cal. Civil Case No. 3:15-cv-2300-AJB-LL 28 1 (“Olson I”). 2 Plaintiff has not prepaid the filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) to 3 commence a new civil action. Instead, he filed a Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis 4 (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). Doc. No. 2. Soon after, Plaintiff filed a Motion 5 requesting that the Court “hold the screening process” while his Motion for 6 Reconsideration pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) remained pending in Olson I. Doc. 7 No. 6. Because Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration has since been denied however, 8 see Olson I at Doc. No. 104, the Court DENIES AS MOOT Plaintiff’s request that the 9 Court defer its mandatory screening of his newly filed Complaint, Doc. No. 6. 10 I. MOTION TO PROCEED IFP 11 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 12 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 13 $402.2 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 14 prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 15 § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez 16 v. Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). The fee is not waived for prisoners, 17 however. If granted leave to proceed IFP, they nevertheless remain obligated to pay the 18 entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” Bruce v. Samuels, 577 U.S. 82, 84 (2016); 19 Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 2015), and regardless of whether their 20 21 1 Plaintiff admits his “case was priorly [sic] litigated” in Olson I, S.D. Cal. Civil Case No. 3:15-cv- 22 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 23 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)); 24 see also Est. of Blue v. County of Los Angeles, 120 F.3d 982, 984 (9th Cir. 1997) (taking judicial notice 25 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). 26 2 Effective December 1, 2020, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative fee of $52, in 27 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 28 1 actions are dismissed for other reasons. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1), (2); Taylor 2 v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 3 To qualify, section 1915(a)(2) requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to 4 submit a “certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) 5 for . . . the 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. 6 § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified 7 trust account statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average 8 monthly deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly 9 balance in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner 10 has no assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). The institution 11 having custody of the prisoner then collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the 12 preceding month’s income, in any month in which his account exceeds $10, and forwards 13 those payments to the Court until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. 14 § 1915(b)(2); Bruce, 577 U.S. at 84. 15 In support of his IFP Motion, Plaintiff has submitted a copy of his California 16 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) Inmate Statement Report, as 17 well as a prison certificate authorized by a RJD Accounting Officer. Doc. No. 3; see also 18 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); CivLR 3.2; Andrews, 398 F.3d at 1119. These documents show 19 Plaintiff carried no balance, had no money deposited to his trust account during the six- 20 months prior to filing, and had no money to his credit at the time he filed suit.3 Doc. 21 No. 3 at 1, 3. 22 Therefore, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP and declines to 23 assess any initial filing fee because his trust account statements show he “has no means to 24

25 26 3 In fact, Plaintiff’s trust account records as of September 28, 2021, reveal he remains obligated to pay $6,725 in filings fees as a result of his having filed more than a dozen separate civil actions and appeals 27 in this Court and in the Ninth Circuit since 2014. See Doc. No. 3 at 3‒4. Plaintiff owes an additional $9,750.22 in restitution pursuant to a fine imposed by the San Diego Superior Court in Criminal Case 28 1 pay it.” Bruce, 577 U.S. 84–85. Instead, the Court DIRECTS the Secretary of the 2 CDCR to collect the entire $350 balance of the filing fees required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914 3 and to forward those fees to the Clerk of Court pursuant to the installment payment 4 provisions set forth in 28 U.S.C.

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Arellano v. Olson, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arellano-v-olson-casd-2022.