Helvy v. Paramo

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJuly 8, 2020
Docket3:20-cv-01144
StatusUnknown

This text of Helvy v. Paramo (Helvy v. Paramo) 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
Helvy v. Paramo, (S.D. Cal. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 FRED WAYNE HELVY, Case No.: 3:20-cv-01144 JAH-MSB CDCR #H-72048, 12 ORDER: Plaintiff, 13 vs. 1) GRANTING MOTION TO 14 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS

15 [ECF No. 2]; and DANIEL PARAMO, et al., 16 Defendants. 2) DISMISSING COMPLAINT 17 PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) AND § 1915A(b)(1) 18 19 20 21 FRED WAYNE HELVY (“Plaintiff”), incarcerated at California Medical Facility 22 (“CMF”) located in Vacaville, California, is proceeding pro se in this case with a civil 23 rights Complaint filed pursuant to 22 U.S.C. § 1983 (ECF No. 1). 24 Plaintiff has not prepaid the $400 civil filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a); 25 instead, he has filed a Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 26 § 1915(a) (ECF No. 2). 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 I. Motion to Proceed IFP 2 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 3 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 4 $400.1 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 5 prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 6 § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez v. 7 Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, a prisoner who is granted leave to 8 proceed IFP remains obligated to pay the entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” 9 Bruce v. Samuels, 136 S. Ct. 627, 629 (2016); Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 10 (9th Cir. 2015), and regardless of whether his action is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. 11 § 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 12 Section 1915(a)(2) requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a 13 “certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 14 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. 15 § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified 16 trust account statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average 17 monthly deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly balance 18 in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner has no 19 assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). The institution having custody 20 of the prisoner then collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the preceding 21 month’s income, in any month in which his account exceeds $10, and forwards those 22 payments to the Court until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2); Bruce, 23 136 S. Ct. at 629. 24 25 26 1 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative 27 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 28 1 In support of his IFP Motion, Plaintiff has submitted a copy of his CDCR inmate 2 trust account statement and prison certificate. See ECF No. 2 at 4-6; 28 U.S.C. 3 § 1915(a)(2); S.D. CAL. CIVLR 3.2; Andrews, 398 F.3d at 1119. This statement shows that 4 Plaintiff has had an average monthly deposit of $10.00 but only had an available balance 5 of $0.01 at the time of filing. See ECF No. 2 at 4. Thus, the Court assesses Plaintiff’s initial 6 partial filing fee to be $2.00 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) but acknowledges he may 7 be unable to pay even that small initial fee at this time. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) 8 (providing that “[i]n no event shall a prisoner be prohibited from bringing a civil action or 9 appealing a civil action or criminal judgment for the reason that the prisoner has no assets 10 and no means by which to pay the initial partial filing fee.”); Bruce, 136 S. Ct. at 630; 11 Taylor, 281 F.3d at 850 (finding that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) acts as a “safety-valve” 12 preventing dismissal of a prisoner’s IFP case based solely on a “failure to pay . . . due to 13 the lack of funds available to him when payment is ordered.”). 14 Therefore, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP (ECF No. 2), 15 declines to exact the initial filing fee because his trust account statements indicate he may 16 have “no means to pay it,” Bruce, 136 S. Ct. at 629, and directs the Secretary of the CDCR 17 or his designee, to instead collect the entire $350 balance of the filing fees required by 28 18 U.S.C. § 1914 and forward them to the Clerk of the Court pursuant to the installment 19 payment provisions set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). See id. 20 II. Sua Sponte Screening per 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) and § 1915A 21 A. Standard of Review 22 Because Plaintiff is a prisoner and is proceeding IFP, his Complaint requires a pre- 23 answer screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) and § 1915A(b). Under these statutes, 24 the Court must sua sponte dismiss a prisoner's IFP complaint, or any portion of it, which is 25 frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are 26 immune. See Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (discussing 27 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)); Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) 28 (discussing 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)).

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Helvy v. Paramo, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/helvy-v-paramo-casd-2020.