Carrillo v. Mission Valley Nordstrom Rack

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedOctober 30, 2023
Docket3:23-cv-01535
StatusUnknown

This text of Carrillo v. Mission Valley Nordstrom Rack (Carrillo v. Mission Valley Nordstrom Rack) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carrillo v. Mission Valley Nordstrom Rack, (S.D. Cal. 2023).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ERIC E. CARRILLO, Case No.: 23-cv-1535-WQH-LR CDCR #BR-2013, 12 ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO Plaintiff, 13 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS v. AND DISMISSING CIVIL ACTION 14 PURSUANT TO MISSION VALLEY 15 NORDSTROM RACK; JOSE 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) MONDRAGON, Nordstrom Rack 16 Loss Prevention Manager; TERRY 17 CAHILL, Nordstrom Rack Loss 18 Prevention Agent, Defendants. 19 20 HAYES, Judge: 21 Plaintiff Eric E. Carrillo, proceeding without counsel and currently incarcerated at 22 Wasco State Prison (“WSP”) in Wasco, California, has filed this civil rights action pursuant 23 to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (See ECF No. 1.)1 Plaintiff claims two loss prevention officials at the 24 25 1 Plaintiff filed his Complaint while detained at the San Diego County Jail (“SDCJ”). (See ECF No. at 1; 26 ECF No. 2 at 1.) On September 18, 2023, Plaintiff filed a Notice of Change of Address indicating his transfer to WSP. (See ECF No. 4; see also https://inmatelocator .cdcr.ca.gov/Details.aspx?ID=BR2013 27 (last visited Oct. 23, 2023) (noting Eric E. Carrillo’s admission into CDCR custody on 8/30/23); United States v. Basher, 629 F.3d 1161, 1165 n.2 (9th Cir. 2011) (taking judicial notice of Bureau of Prisons’ 28 1 Mission Valley Nordstrom Rack violated his rights to freedom of association and to be free 2 from cruel and unusual punishment by committing perjury during a preliminary hearing 3 held in People v. Carrillo, San Diego Superior Court Criminal Case No. SCD295366. 4 Plaintiff alleges Defendants’ testimony caused his “false imprisonment.” (ECF No. 1 at 2‒ 5 5; ECF No. 1-2 at 1‒16.) He seeks $600,000 in general and punitive damages and requests 6 leave to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). (ECF No. 1 at 7 7; see also ECF No. 2.) 8 For the reasons discussed below, the Court grants Plaintiff leave to proceed IFP, but 9 dismisses the case sua sponte because he fails to state a claim upon which § 1983 relief 10 can be granted and seeks damages from defendants who are absolutely immune. See 28 11 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii), (iii). 12 I. MOTION TO PROCEED IFP 13 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 14 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 15 $402.2 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a failure to pay the entire 16 fee at the time of filing only if the court grants the Plaintiff leave to proceed IFP pursuant 17 to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); 18 cf. Hymas v. U.S. Dep’t of the Interior, 73 F.4th 763, 765 (9th Cir. 2023) (“[W]here [an] 19 IFP application is denied altogether, Plaintiff’s case [cannot] proceed unless and until the 20 fee[s] [a]re paid.”). 21 “While the previous version of the IFP statute granted courts the authority to waive 22 fees for any person ‘unable to pay[,]’ … the PLRA [Prison Litigation Reform Act] 23 amended the IFP statute to include a carve-out for prisoners: under the current version of 24

25 26 2 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative fee of $52. See 27 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2020). The additional $52 administrative fee does not apply to persons granted leave to proceed 28 1 the IFP statute, ‘if a prisoner brings a civil action or files an appeal in forma pauperis, the 2 prisoner shall be required to pay the full amount of a filing fee.’” Hymas, 73 F.4th at 767 3 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1)). Section 1915(b) “provides a structured timeline for 4 collecting this fee.” Id. (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1)-(2)). 5 To proceed IFP, prisoners must “submit[] an affidavit that includes a statement of 6 all assets [they] possess[,]” as well as “a “certified copy of the[ir] trust fund account 7 statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 6-month period immediately preceding 8 the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1), (2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 9 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). Using this financial information, the court “assess[es] and when funds 10 exist, collect[s], … an initial partial filing fee,” which is “calculated based on ‘the average 11 monthly deposits to the prisoner’s account’ or ‘the average monthly balance in the 12 prisoner’s account’ over a 6-month term; the remainder of the fee is to be paid in ‘monthly 13 payments of 20 percent of the preceding month’s income credited to the prisoner’s 14 account.” Hymas, 73 F.4th at 767 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1)–(2)). In short, while 15 prisoners may qualify to proceed IFP without having to pay the full statutory filing upfront, 16 they remain obligated to pay the full amount due in monthly payments. See Bruce v. 17 Samuels, 577 U.S. 82, 84 (2016); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 18 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 19 Plaintiff’s IFP application complies with both 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1) and (2). In 20 support, he has submitted a copy of his San Diego Sheriff’s Department Trust Account 21 Activity Report, provided by a SDCJ Accounting Officer. (See ECF No. 2 at 6, 8‒9; see 22 also S.D. Cal. CivLR 3.2; Andrews, 398 F.3d at 1119.) This accounting shows that while 23 Plaintiff had $61.42 in average monthly deposits credited to his SDCJ trust account over 24 the 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of his Complaint, he had an available 25 balance of only $.30 to his credit at the time he filed it. (See ECF No. 2 at 8‒9.) 26 Therefore, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP, but declines to 27 assess any initial filing fee because his trust account statements show he “has no means to 28 pay it.” Bruce, 577 U.S. 84–85. Instead, the Court will DIRECT the CDCR, the agency 1 now having custody, to collect the entire $350 balance of the filing fees required by 28 2 U.S.C. § 1914 and forward those fees to the Clerk of the Court pursuant to the installment 3 payment provisions described in 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). See id. 4 II. SCREENING PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(E)(2)(B) 5 A.

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Carrillo v. Mission Valley Nordstrom Rack, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carrillo-v-mission-valley-nordstrom-rack-casd-2023.