Cruz v. Calderon

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedFebruary 16, 2024
Docket4:23-cv-05653
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Cruz v. Calderon, (N.D. Cal. 2024).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 GUILLERMO TRUJILLO CRUZ, Case No. 23-cv-05653-HSG

8 Plaintiff, ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE WHY LEAVE TO PROCEED IN FORMA 9 v. PAUPERIS SHOULD NOT BE DENIED; DENYING AS MOOT REQUEST TO 10 CALDERON, et al., RETURN COMPLAINT AND “MOTION OF NOTIFICATION” 11 Defendants. Re: Dkt. Nos. 8, 10, 12 12

13 14 Plaintiff, an inmate at Pelican Bay State Prison, filed this pro se civil rights action pursuant 15 to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He has requested that the Court return his complaint to him so that he may 16 comply with the electronic filing requirement set forth in N.D. Cal. General Order 76, Dkt. No. 8; 17 requested leave to proceed in forma pauperis, Dkt. No. 10; and filed a “motion of notification that 18 civil rights action 1983 was electronically mail,” Dkt. No. 12. For the reasons set forth below, the 19 Court DENIES as moot Plaintiff’s request that his complaint be returned, Dkt. No. 8, and his 20 motion of notification, Dkt. No. 12; and orders Plaintiff to show cause why his request for leave to 21 proceed in forma pauperis should not be denied pursuant to the three strikes provision set forth in 22 28 U.S.C. § 1915. 23 DISCUSSION I. Request for Return of Complaint and “Motion of Notification” (Dkt. Nos. 8, 12) 24 Plaintiff has requested that the Court return his complaint to him so that he may comply 25 with the electronic filing requirement set forth in N.D. Cal. General Order 76. Dkt. No. 8. 26 Plaintiff has also filed a pleading titled “motion of notification that civil rights action 1983 was 27 electronically mail.” Dkt. No. 12. Both these motions are DENIED as moot. Plaintiff has 1 complied with General Order No. 76. See Dkt. No. 9. Plaintiff therefore no longer needs a copy 2 of the complaint and his request that the complaint be returned to him is DENIED as moot. Dkt. 3 No. 8. Pleadings titled “motion” generally request action from the Court. Although Dkt. No. 12 is 4 titled “motion,” it does not request court action and instead seeks to inform the Court that Plaintiff 5 has complied with General Order No. 76. Plaintiff’s “motion of notification that civil rights action 6 1983 was electronically mail” is therefore DENIED as moot because it does not seek any action 7 from the Court. 8 II. Request for Leave to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (Dkt. No. 10) 9 A. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) 10 This action is governed by the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996 (“PLRA”) which 11 became effective on April 26, 1996. The PLRA provides that a prisoner may not bring a civil 12 action under 28 U.S.C. § 1915, i.e., may not proceed in forma pauperis, “if the prisoner has, on 3 13 or more prior occasions, while incarcerated or detained in any facility, brought an action . . . in a 14 court of the United States that was dismissed on the grounds that it is frivolous, malicious, or fails 15 to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, unless the prisoner is under imminent danger of 16 serious physical injury.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). 17 For purposes of a dismissal that may be counted under Section 1915(g), the Ninth Circuit 18 gives this guidance: The phrase “fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted” parallels 19 the language of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and apparently means the same thing. 20 Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 2005) ( “Andrews I”). A case “is frivolous if it is 21 ‘of little weight or importance: having no basis in law or fact.’” Id. (citation omitted). “A case is 22 malicious if it was filed with the ‘intention or desire to harm another.’” Id. (citation omitted). 23 “Not all unsuccessful cases qualify as a strike under § 1915(g). Rather, § 1915(g) should be used 24 to deny a prisoner’s IFP status only when, after careful evaluation of the order dismissing an 25 action, and other relevant information, the district court determines that the action was dismissed 26 because it was frivolous, malicious or failed to state a claim.” Id. at 1121. A district court is not 27 required to announce in an order that its dismissal constitutes a strike under Section 1915(g) for 1 In determining whether a prior dismissal counts as a strike, the Court “should look to the 2 substance of the dismissed lawsuit, and not to how the district court labelled or styled the 3 dismissal.” Harris v. Harris, 935 F.3d 670, 673 (9th Cir. 2019) (internal quotations marks and 4 citation omitted). To be counted as a strike, a case must be dismissed in its entirety as frivolous, 5 malicious or for failure to state a claim. Id. at 674. A dismissal based solely on a finding that the 6 plaintiff previously incurred at least three strikes, without any additional finding that the action is 7 itself frivolous, malicious or fails to state a claim, does not count as an additional strike under 8 § 1915(g). El-Shaddai v. Zamora, 833 F.3d 1036, 1042 (9th Cir. 2016) 9 The plain language of the imminent danger clause in Section 1915(g) indicates that 10 “imminent danger” is to be assessed at the time of filing of the complaint. See Andrews v. 11 Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1053 (9th Cir. 2007) (“Andrews II”). The conditions that existed at 12 some earlier or later time are not relevant. Id. at 1053 & n.5 (post-filing transfer of prisoner out of 13 prison at which danger allegedly existed may have mooted request for injunctive relief against 14 alleged danger, but did not affect Section 1915(g) analysis). “[T]he imminent danger exception to 15 the PLRA three-strikes provision requires a nexus between the alleged imminent danger and the 16 violations of law alleged in the complaint.” Ray v. Lara, 31 F.4th 692, 695 (9th Cir. 2022). The 17 court “should not make an overly detailed inquiry into whether the allegations qualify for the 18 [imminent danger] exception.” Andrews II, 493 F.3d at 1055. It is sufficient if the complaint 19 “makes a plausible allegation that the prisoner faced ‘imminent danger of serious physical injury’ 20 at the time of filing.” Id. 21 The Ninth Circuit requires that the prisoner be given notice of the potential applicability of 22 Section 1915(g), by either the district court or the defendants, but also requires the prisoner to bear 23 the ultimate burden of persuasion that Section 1915(g) does not bar in forma pauperis status for 24 him. Andrews I, 398 F.3d at 1120. Andrews I implicitly allows the Court to sua sponte raise the 25 Section 1915(g) issue, but requires the Court to notify the prisoner of the earlier dismissals it 26 considers to support a Section 1915(g) dismissal and allow the prisoner an opportunity to be heard 27 on the matter before dismissing the action. Id. A dismissal under Section 1915(g) means that a 1 prisoner may still pursue his claims if he pays the full filing fee at the outset of the action. 2 B. Prior Denials of In Forma Pauperis Status 3 Plaintiff is a frequent litigant.

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Andrews v. Cervantes
493 F.3d 1047 (Ninth Circuit, 2007)
O'NEAL v. Price
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Adonai El-Shaddai v. Jeffrey Wang, Md
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Tommie Harris v. K. Harris
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31 F.4th 692 (Ninth Circuit, 2022)

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Bluebook (online)
Cruz v. Calderon, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cruz-v-calderon-cand-2024.