AuguStar Life Assurance Corp. v. Terrana

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 AUGUSTAR LIFE ASSURANCE No. 2:24-cv-02096-DC-AC CORPORATION, 12 Plaintiff, 13 ORDER DENYING MOTIONS FOR v. PERMISSION TO FILE ELECTRONICALLY 14 PHYLLIS TERRANA, et al., (Doc. Nos. 29, 31) 15 Defendants. 16 17 This matter is before the court on the motions for permission to utilize electronic case 18 filing (“ECF”) filed by pro se Defendants Sherry Kunkle and Phillip Terrana respectively on 19 October 30, 2024 and October 31, 2024. (Doc. Nos. 29, 31.) 20 Pursuant to Local Rule 133(b)(2), pro se parties must file and serve paper documents; pro 21 se parties “may not utilize electronic filing except with the permission of the assigned Judge or 22 Magistrate Judge” as provided by Local Rule 133(b)(3). A pro se litigant seeking permission to 23 use ECF shall submit such a request as a stipulation “or, if a stipulation cannot be had, as written 24 motions setting out an explanation of reasons for the exception.” L.R. 133(b)(3). 25 Here, both pending motions consist of a check-box form application indicating that 26 Defendants Sherry Kunkle and Phillip Terrana each affirm that they “have regular access to the 27 technical requirements necessary to e-file successfully,” but neither motion includes an 28 explanation of reasons as required by Local Rule 133(b)(3). For this reason, the court will deny 1 | the pending motions for permission to utilize ECF in this action. See Yates v. Money Source, Inc., 2 | No. 1:23-cv-00155-JLT-EPG, 2023 WL 1786252, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 6, 2023) (denying the 3 | plaintiff's request for permission to file documents electronically because the plaintiff had “not 4 | provided a sufficient explanation to deviate from the rule that pro se parties must file documents 5 | conventionally and may not utilize electronic filing’); Driver v. Gibson, No. 2:20-cv-0642-KJM- 6 | DMC, 2020 WL 4882403, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Aug. 18, 2020) (denying the plaintiff's motions for 7 || permission to use the court’s ECF system because “plaintiff’s motions do not set forth any 8 | reasons why he requires access to electronic filing or why paper filing is inadequate”). 9 Accordingly, 10 1. Defendant Sherry Kunkle’s motion for permission to file electronically in this case 11 (Doc. No. 29) is denied, without prejudice; and 12 2. Defendant Phillip Terrana’s motion for permission to file electronically in this case 13 (Doc. No. 31) is denied, without prejudice. 14 15 IT IS SO ORDERED. □ 16 | Dated: _ November 19, 2024 LY os Dena Coggins 17 United States District Judge 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28