Christ Commanded v. Bureau of Land Management-Nevada State Office
This text of Christ Commanded v. Bureau of Land Management-Nevada State Office (Christ Commanded v. Bureau of Land Management-Nevada State Office) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 * * * 4 Christ Commanded Case No. 2:25-cv-1983-GMN-BNW 5 Plaintiff, 6 ORDER v. 7 Bureau of Land Management-Nevada State 8 Office
9 Defendant.
10 11 Before the Court is Plaintiff’s application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP). ECF No. 4. 12 Rev. Dr. Jake Beard appears to have submitted the application to proceed in forma pauperis on 13 behalf of Plaintiff Christ Commanded, a church. See id. Congress intended the statute authorizing 14 IFP to be applicable only to natural persons rather than to corporate entities such as a church. See 15 Rowland v. California Men’s colony, Unit II Men’s Advisory Council, 506 U.S. 194, 203 (1993). 16 Here, Rev. Beard appears to be representing Christ Commanded, a non-profit corporate 17 entity, as its president and authorized signatory. ECF No. 1-1. Since only natural persons can 18 proceed IFP, this Court denies Plaintiff’s application with leave to refile. 19 Additionally, this Court notes that corporate entities may appear in federal court only with 20 a licensed attorney. In re Am. W. Airlines, 40 F.3d 1058, 1059 (9th Cir. 1994). “The rule requiring 21 corporations to have counsel rather than to proceed in litigation pro se applies even if the 22 corporation is a non-profit corporation.” Her Oceans v. Cmty. Outreach Behav. Servs., Inc., No. 23 1:21-cv-00198-DCN, 2021 WL 3172914 at *1 (D. Idaho, July 27, 2021). Because non-profit 24 corporate entities must be represented by a licensed attorney to appear in federal court, Rev. 25 Beard, who is not a licensed attorney, may not represent Christ Commanded. 26 IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Plaintiff’s Motion/Application for Leave to 27 Proceed In Forma Pauperis (ECF No. 4) is DENIED without prejudice. ] IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that if Rev. Beard wishes to refile the application to 2 || proceed IFP on his own behalf, he must refile the application by December 4, 2025. 3 4 DATED: November 4, 2025 5 Kg bein ban BRENDA WEKSLER □ 6 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 7 8 9 10 1] 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
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Christ Commanded v. Bureau of Land Management-Nevada State Office, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/christ-commanded-v-bureau-of-land-management-nevada-state-office-nvd-2025.