Bonilla v. Meza

• Court: District Court, S.D. California
• Decided: April 21, 2020
• Docket: 3:20-cv-00704
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

8 STEVEN WAYNE BONILLA Case No.: 20-cv-00704-BAS-AGS 9 J-48500, ORDER DISMISSING ACTION 10 Plaintiff, WITHOUT PREJUDICE FOR FAILING TO PAY FILING FEE AND 11 v. FAILING TO MOVE TO PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS 12 JUDGE AMALIA L. MEZA, et al., 13 Defendants. 14 15 Steven Wayne Bonilla (“Plaintiff”), currently incarcerated at San Quentin State 16 Prison located in San Quentin, California, and proceeding pro se, has filed a civil rights 17 action. (Compl., ECF No. 1.) 18 I. FAILURE TO PAY FILING FEE OR REQUEST IFP STATUS 19 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 20 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 21 $400. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a).1 An action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 22 prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 23 § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez v. 24 Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, if the Plaintiff is a prisoner, and 25 1 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative fee of $50. See 26 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2014). The additional $50 administrative fee does not apply to persons granted leave to proceed 27 IFP. Id. 1 if he is granted leave to commence his suit IFP, he remains obligated to pay the entire 2 || filing fee in “increments,” see Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 2015), 3 ||regardless of whether his case is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (2); 4 || Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 5 Plaintiff has not prepaid the $400 in filing and administrative fees required to 6 ||commence this civil action, nor has he submitted a properly supported Motion to Proceed 7 || IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). Therefore, his case cannot yet proceed. See 28 U.S.C. 8 1914(a); Andrews, 493 F.3d at 1051. 9 ||. CONCLUSION AND ORDER 10 For the reasons set forth above, the Court hereby: 11 (1) DISMISSES this action sua sponte without prejudice for failure to pay the 12 ||$400 civil filing and administrative fee or to submit a Motion to Proceed IFP pursuant to 13 ||28 U.S.C. §§ 1914(a) and 1915(a); and 14 (2) GRANTS Plaintiff thirty (30) days leave from the date this Order is filed to: 15 || (a) prepay the entire $400 civil filing and administrative fee in full; or (b) complete and file 16 |}a Motion to Proceed IFP which includes a certified copy of his trust account statement for 17 ||the six-month period preceding the filing of his Complaint. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); 18 || CivLR 3.2(b). 19 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall provide Plaintiff 20 || with this Court’s approved form “Motion and Declaration in Support of Motion to Proceed 21 ||In Forma Pauperis.” If Plaintiff fails to either prepay the $400 civil filing fee or complete 22 submit the enclosed Motion to Proceed IFP within 45 days, this action will remain 23 dismissed without prejudice based on Plaintiff’s failure to satisfy 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a)’s fee 24 ||requirements and without further Order of the Court. 25 IT IS SO ORDERED. 26 f □ / 27 || DATED: April 21, 2020 ( yi A A (Hiphan 6 United States District Judge