Carroll v. San Diego County Jail Sheriff

District Court, S.D. California·Decided July 28, 2020·No. 3:19-cv-02073·Unknown

Opinion

ABONILICO LAMAR CARROLL, Case No.: 3:19-cv-02073-AJB-NLS CDCR #BK-9830, ORDER: Plaintiff, v. (1) GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO PROCEED IN FORMA SAN DIEGO COUNTY JAIL SHERIFF; PAUPERIS [ECF No. 6] DEPUTY CAMPBELL;

DEPUTY SHERIFFS SUPERVISORS; AND CITY OF SAN DIEGO, Defendants. (2) SUA SPONTE DISMISSING COMPLAINT FOR FAILING TO STATE A CLAIM PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) AND § 1915A(b)(1) On October 28, 2019, Abonilico Lamar Carroll (“Plaintiff”), a former pretrial detainee1 at the San Diego County Central Jail (“SDCCJ”) in San Diego, California, filed a civil rights complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See ECF No. 1 (“Compl.”). Plaintiff

1 According to Plaintiff’s Trust Fund Account Statement filed on May 7, 2020, he is currently incarcerated at North Kern State Prison in Delano, California. See ECF No. 6 at seeks injunctive relief enjoining Defendants from conducting “illegal searches” on persons who have not yet been convicted, and $17 million in general and punitive damages based on claims that he was unlawfully strip searched at the SDCCJ on September 19, 2019. Id. at 1-2, 4-6, 8.2 On December 9, 2019, the Court denied Plaintiff’s initial motion to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) because Plaintiff failed to include a certified trust account statement. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). Therefore, the Court dismissed Plaintiff’s case, but granted him forty-five (45) days to either pay the entire $400 filing fee or properly move to proceed IFP. See ECF No. 3. On December 26, 2019, the Court’s December 9, 2019 Order was returned as undeliverable. See ECF No. 4. Approximately one week later, on January 2, 2020, Plaintiff notified the Court of his change of address, but the case remained closed. See ECF No. 5. On May 7, 2020, however, Plaintiff submitted a Prisoner Trust Fund Account Statement, which the Court now liberally construes as his intent to re-open the case, and to renew his initial request to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See ECF No. 6. I. Motion to Proceed IFP All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 2 Because Plaintiff has since been convicted and is no longer detained at the SDCCJ, his claims for injunctive relief with respect to SDCCJ policy or procedure have been rendered moot. See Darring v. Kincheloe, 783 F.2d 874, 876–77 (9th Cir. 1986) (inmate’s claim for injunctive relief should be dismissed as moot when transferred to another prison and no reasonable expectation or demonstrated probability that he would again be subjected to conditions from which he seeks injunctive relief); see also Wiggins v. Alameda Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, No. C 94-1172 VRW, 1994 WL 327180, at *2 n.1 (N.D. Cal. June 22, 1994) (noting that prisoner lacked standing to seek injunctive relief related to prison conditions at Alameda County Jail because he had been transferred to San Quentin State $400. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez v. Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, a prisoner who is granted leave to proceed IFP remains obligated to pay the entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” Bruce v. Samuels, 136 S. Ct. 627, 629 (2016); Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 2015), and regardless of whether his action is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). Section 1915(a)(2) requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a “certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified trust account statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average monthly deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly balance in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner has no assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). The institution having custody of the prisoner then collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the preceding month’s income, in any month in which his account exceeds $10, and forwards those payments to the Court until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2); Bruce, 136 S. Ct. at 629. As noted above, Plaintiff has now submitted a certified copy of his California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) Inmate Statement Report showing his trust account activity. See ECF No. 6 at 1; 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); S.D. Cal. 3 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative fee of $50. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. June 1, 2016). The additional $50 administrative fee does CivLR 3.2; Andrews, 398 F.3d at 1119. This statement shows that Plaintiff had no available funds to his credit at the time of filing. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) (providing that “[i]n no event shall a prisoner be prohibited from bringing a civil action or appealing a civil action or criminal judgment for the reason that the prisoner has no assets and no means by which to pay the initial partial filing fee.”); Taylor, 281 F.3d at 850 (finding that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) acts as a “safety-valve” preventing dismissal of a prisoner’s IFP case based solely on a “failure to pay . . . due to the lack of funds available to him when payment is ordered.”). Therefore, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s renewed Motion to Proceed IFP (ECF No. 6), declines to exact any initial filing fee because his trust account statement shows he “has no means to pay it,” Bruce, 136 S. Ct. at 629, and directs the Secretary of the CDCR to collect the entire $350 balance of the filing fe

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Carroll v. San Diego County Jail Sheriff, (S.D. Cal. 2020).

Carroll v. San Diego County Jail Sheriff (Carroll v. San Diego County Jail Sheriff) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs.
436 U.S. 658 (Supreme Court, 1978)
Bell v. Wolfish
441 U.S. 520 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Hudson v. Palmer
468 U.S. 517 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Daniels v. Williams
474 U.S. 327 (Supreme Court, 1986)
West v. Atkins
487 U.S. 42 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Rhodes v. Robinson
621 F.3d 1002 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Perry v. Blum
629 F.3d 1 (First Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Huete-Sandoval
668 F.3d 1 (First Circuit, 2011)
AE Ex Rel. Hernandez v. County of Tulare
666 F.3d 631 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
Wilhelm v. Rotman
680 F.3d 1113 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)