Bradley v. Lang

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: August 6, 2025
• Docket: 2:25-cv-01211
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

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5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 7 8 ANTHONY L. BRADLEY, 9 Plaintiff, Case No. C25-1211-TMC-MLP 10 v. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION 11 TIM LANG, et al., 12 Defendants. 13

14 On June 25, 2025, Plaintiff submitted to the Court for filing a proposed civil rights 15 complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, along with an application to proceed in forma pauperis 16 (“IFP”). (Dkt. ## 1, 1-1.) On June 27, 2025, the Clerk’s Office notified Plaintiff of deficiencies 17 with his IFP application. (Dkt. # 2.) Specifically, Plaintiff had not signed the Acknowledgement 18 and Authorization portion of the application and had failed to include a prison trust account 19 statement showing transactions for the last six months. (Id.) Plaintiff was given until July 28, 20 2025, to remedy the deficiencies and was warned that failure to do so could lead to the dismissal 21 of his case. (Id.) To date, Plaintiff has not remedied the deficiencies noted, nor filed anything 22 further on the docket. 23 1 “To qualify for in forma pauperis status, a civil litigant must demonstrate both that the 2 litigant is unable to pay court fees and that the claims he or she seeks to pursue are not 3 frivolous.” Ogunsalu v. Nair, 117 F. App’x 522, 523 (9th Cir. 2004), cert. denied, 544 U.S. 1051 4 (2005). To meet the first prong of this test, a litigant must show that he or she “cannot because of

5 his [or her] poverty pay or give security for the costs and still be able to provide him [or her]self 6 and dependents with the necessities of life.” Adkins v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., 335 U.S. 7 331, 339 (1948) (internal alterations omitted). Accordingly, the district court may permit 8 indigent litigants to proceed IFP upon completion of a proper affidavit of indigence. See 28 9 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1). A prisoner seeking to bring a civil action must, in addition, submit a 10 certified copy of a prisoner trust fund account statement for the last six months. 28 U.S.C. 11 § 1915(a)(2). The prisoner must pay the full filing fee over time, as provided by statute. 28 12 U.S.C. § 1915(b). Accordingly, this district requires an IFP applicant prisoner to sign an 13 acknowledgement of the payment obligation and authorization to collect the funds from the 14 prison trust account.

15 Plaintiff has not completed a proper affidavit of indigence as required by statute, and 16 thus, Plaintiff fails to demonstrate that he cannot afford court fees. (See dkt. # 1.) Accordingly, 17 after careful consideration of Plaintiff’s IFP application, the governing law, and the balance of 18 the record, the Court recommends that Plaintiff’s IFP application (dkt. # 1) be DENIED and 19 Plaintiff be directed to pay the filing fee within thirty (30) days after entry of the Court’s Order 20 adopting this Report and Recommendation. If no filing fee is paid within thirty days of the 21 Court’s Order, the Clerk of Court should close the case. A proposed Order accompanies this 22 Report and Recommendation. 23 1 Objections to this Report and Recommendation, if any, should be filed with the Clerk and 2 served upon all parties to this suit not later than fourteen (14) days from the date on which this 3 Report and Recommendation is signed. Failure to file objections within the specified time may 4 affect your right to appeal. Objections should be noted for consideration on the District Judge’s

5 motions calendar fourteen (14) days from the date they are filed. Responses to objections may 6 be filed by the day before the noting date. If no timely objections are filed, the matter will be 7 ready for consideration by the District Judge on August 27, 2025. 8 The Clerk is directed to send copies of this Report and Recommendation to Plaintiff and 9 to the Honorable Tiffany M. Cartwright. 10 Dated this 6th day of August, 2025. 11 A 12 MICHELLE L. PETERSON United States Magistrate Judge 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23