Caradine v. Clark County Detention Center

Opinion

1 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 2 COURTNEY CARADINE, Case No. 2:23-cv-00511-ART-EJY 3 Plaintiff, ORDER 4 v.

CENTER, et al., 6 Defendants. 7 9 On April 11, 2023, U.S. Magistrate Judge Elayna J. Youchah issued an 10 order denying Plaintiff’s application to proceed in forma pauperis as incomplete 11 and issued a report and recommendation (“R&R”) denying Plaintiff’s complaint 12 without prejudice with leave to amend. (ECF No. 3). Plaintiff had until April 25, 13 2023, to file any objections to the R&R. Plaintiff did not file any objections and 14 instead filed a subsequent application to proceed in forma pauperis (ECF No. 5) 15 and a first amended complaint (“FAC”) (ECF No. 6). 16 The Court now denies the R&R as moot because Plaintiff has filed an FAC 17 which is now the operative complaint. See Hal Roach Studios, Inc. v. Richard 18 Feiner & Co., Inc., 896 F.2d 1542, 1546 (9th Cir. 1989) (holding that “[t]he fact 19 that a party was named in the original complaint is irrelevant; an amended 20 pleading supersedes the original”). The Court will screen the FAC in a separate 21 order pending the resolution of the matter of the filing fee. 22 Plaintiff’s application to proceed in forma pauperis (ECF No. 5) is incomplete 23 because Plaintiff did not include a completed financial certificate and an inmate 24 trust fund account statement for the previous six-month period with the 25 application. The Court will deny Plaintiff’s application without prejudice and give 26 Plaintiff the opportunity to correct these deficiencies by July 17, 2023. 27 The United States District Court for the District of Nevada must collect 28 filing fees from parties initiating civil actions. 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The fee for 1 filing a civil-rights action is $402, which includes the $350 filing fee and the $52 2 administrative fee. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(b). “Any person who is unable to prepay 3 the fees in a civil case may apply to the court for leave to proceed in forma 4 pauperis.” Nev. Loc. R. Prac. LSR 1-1. For an inmate to apply for in forma pauperis 5 status, the inmate must submit all three of the following documents to the Court: 6 (1) a completed Application to Proceed in Forma Pauperis for Inmate, which 7 is pages 1–3 of the Court’s approved form, that is properly signed by the inmate 8 twice on page 3; (2) a completed Financial Certificate, which is page 4 of the 9 Court’s approved form, that is properly signed by both the inmate and a prison 10 or jail official; and (3) a copy of the inmate’s prison or jail trust fund account 11 statement for the previous six-month period. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1)–(2); 12 Nev. Loc. R. Prac. LSR 1-2. In forma pauperis status does not relieve an inmate of 13 his or her obligation to pay the filing fee, it just means that the inmate can pay 14 the fee in installments. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b). 15 As explained above, Plaintiff’s application to proceed in forma pauperis is 16 incomplete. The Court will therefore deny Plaintiff’s application to proceed in 17 forma pauperis without prejudice and grant Plaintiff an extension of time to either 18 pay the filing fee or file a new fully complete application to proceed in forma 19 pauperis with all three required documents. 21 It is therefore ordered that Judge Youchah’s Report and Recommendation 22 (ECF No. 3) is denied as moot. 23 It is further ordered that the application to proceed in forma pauperis (ECF 24 No. 5) is denied without prejudice. 25 It is further ordered that Plaintiff has until July 17, 2023, to either pay 26 the full $402 filing fee or file a new fully complete application to proceed in forma 27 pauperis with all three required documents: (1) a completed application with the 28 inmate’s two signatures on page 3, (2) a completed financial certificate that is 1 || signed both by the inmate and the prison or jail official, and □□□ □ copy of the 2 || inmate’s trust fund account statement for the previous six-month period. 3 Plaintiff is cautioned that this action will be subject to dismissal without 4 || prejudice if Plaintiff fails to timely comply with this order. A dismissal without 5 || prejudice allows Plaintiff to refile the case with the Court, under a new case 6 || number, when Plaintiff can file a complete application to proceed in forma 7 || pauperis or pay the required filing fee. 8 The Clerk of the Court is directed to send Plaintiff the approved form 9 || application to proceed in forma pauperis for an inmate and instructions for the 10 || same and retain the FAC (ECF No. 6). 11 12 DATED THIS 23'4 day of May 2023. 13 14 j jon 16 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28