Bonilla v. Don Clay

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 STEVEN WAYNE BONILLA, Case No.: 3:20-cv-00201-LAB-AGS CDCR #J-48500, 12 ORDER DISMISSING CIVIL Plaintiff, 13 ACTION WITHOUT PREJUDICE vs. FOR FAILING TO PAY 14 FILING FEE REQUIRED

15 BY 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) AND/OR CLARENCE DON CLAY; JEFFREY W. FAILING TO MOVE TO PROCEED 16 HORNER; KELLY S. SIMMONS; IN FORMA PAUPERIS YVONNE GONZALEZ-ROGERS; 17 PURSUANT TO JEFFREY S. WHITE; VINCE G. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a) 18 CHHABRIA; RICHARD SEEBORG;

DOLLY M. GEE; JEAN P. 19 ROSENBERG; EDMOND F.

20 BRENNAN; ANTHONY J. BATTAGLIA; HOWARD R. LLOYD; 21 BETH LABSON FREEMAN; TANI 22 GORRE CANTIL-SAKAUYE, 23 Defendants. 24 25 Plaintiff Steven Wayne Bonilla, proceeding pro se and currently incarcerated at San 26 Quentin State Prison has filed a civil action. (See ECF No. 1, Compl.) 27 I. Failure to Pay Filing Fee or Request IFP Status 28 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 1 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 2 $400. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a).1 An action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 3 prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 4 Section 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); 5 Rodriguez v. Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, if the Plaintiff is a 6 prisoner, and even if he is granted leave to commence his suit IFP, he remains obligated 7 to pay the entire filing fee in “increments,” see Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 8 (9th Cir. 2015), regardless of whether his case is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. § 9 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 10 Plaintiff has not prepaid the $400 in filing and administrative fees required to 11 commence this civil action, nor has he submitted a properly supported Motion to Proceed 12 IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1915(a). Therefore, his case cannot yet proceed. See 13 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a); Andrews, 493 F.3d at 1051. 14 II. Conclusion and Order 15 For the reasons set forth above, the Court hereby: 16 (1) DISMISSES this action sua sponte without prejudice for failure to pay the 17 $400 civil filing and administrative fee or to submit a Motion to Proceed IFP pursuant to 18 28 U.S.C. Section 1914(a) and Section 1915(a); and 19 (2) GRANTS Plaintiff thirty (30) days leave from the date this Order is filed 20 to: (a) prepay the entire $400 civil filing and administrative fee in full; or (b) complete 21 and file a Motion to Proceed IFP which includes a certified copy of his trust account 22 statement for the 6-month period preceding the filing of his Complaint. See 28 U.S.C. 23 § 1915(a)(2); S.D. Cal. Civ. L.R. 3.2(b). 24 25 26 1 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional 27 administrative fee of $50. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Oct. 1, 2019)). The additional $50 28 1 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall provide Plaintiff 2 || with this Court’s approved form “Motion and Declaration in Support of Motion to 3 || Proceed In Forma Pauperis.” If Plaintiff fails to either prepay the $400 civil filing fee or 4 ||complete and submit the enclosed Motion to Proceed IFP within 30 days, this action will 5 ||remain dismissed without prejudice based on Plaintiffs failure to satisfy the fee 6 requirements of 28 U.S.C. Section 1914(a) and without further Order of the Court. 7 IT IS SO ORDERED. 8 9 Dated: February 24, 2020 / it 4 ‘Z, WY 10 Hon. Larfy Alan Burns 11 Chief United States District Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3