Jones v. Madden

• Court: District Court, S.D. California
• Decided: August 30, 2022
• Docket: 3:22-cv-01244
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 RAYON JONES, Case No.: 22cv1244-RSH-BLM CDCR No. G-35669, 12 ORDER DISMISSING CIVIL Plaintiff, 13 ACTION WITHOUT PREJUDICE vs. FOR FAILING TO PAY 14 FILING FEE AND/OR FAILING TO

15 MOVE TO PROCEED IN FORMA RAYMOND MADDEN, PAUPERIS 16 Defendant. 17 18 19 20 21 Plaintiff Rayon Jones (“Plaintiff”), currently incarcerated at the Richard J. Donovan 22 Correctional Facility (“RJD”) located in San Diego, California, proceeding pro se in this 23 civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 initially filed this matter in the Northern 24 District of California. (ECF No. 1.) After finding that a substantial part of the events or 25 omissions giving rise to the claims in this matter occurred at RJD, United States District 26 Judge Charles R. Breyer transferred the matter to this Court on August 23, 2022. (ECF 27 No. 12.) 28 / / / 1 I. Failure to Pay Filing Fee or Request In Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) Status 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 $402, consisting of a $350 statutory fee plus an additional administrative fee of $52, 5 although the $52 administrative fee does not apply to persons granted leave to proceed IFP. 6 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a); Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee 7 Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2020). An action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 8 prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 9 § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez v. 10 Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, if Plaintiff is a prisoner, and even if 11 he is granted leave to commence his suit IFP, he remains obligated to pay the entire filing 12 fee in “increments,” see Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 2015), 13 regardless of whether his case is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (2); 14 Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 15 Plaintiff has not prepaid the $402 in filing and administrative fees required to 16 commence this civil action, nor has he submitted a Motion to Proceed IFP pursuant to 28 17 U.S.C. § 1915(a). Therefore, his case cannot yet proceed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a); 18 Andrews, 493 F.3d at 1051. 19 II. Conclusion and Order 20 Accordingly, the Court: 21 (1) DISMISSES this civil action sua sponte without prejudice based on 22 Plaintiff’s failure to pay the $402 civil filing and administrative fee or to submit a Motion 23 to Proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) and § 1915(a); and 24 (2) GRANTS Plaintiff forty-five (45) days leave from the date this Order is filed 25 to: (a) prepay the entire $402 civil filing and administrative fee in full; or (b) complete and 26 file a Motion to Proceed IFP which includes a certified copy of his trust account statement 27 for the 6-month period preceding the filing of his Complaint. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); 28 S.D. Cal. Civ. L.R. 3.2(b). 1 The Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to provide Plaintiff with this Court’s 2 ||approved form “Motion and Declaration in Support of Motion to Proceed Jn Forma 3 || Pauperis.” If Plaintiff fails to either prepay the $402 civil filing fee or complete and submit 4 || the enclosed Motion to Proceed IFP within 45 days, this action will be dismissed without 5 || prejudice based on his failure to satisfy 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a)’s fee requirements.! 6 IT IS SO ORDERED. 7 ‘ Jehut S low 8 || Dated: 9 Hon. Robert S. Hute 10 United States District Judge 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ||! Plaintiff is cautioned that if he chooses to proceed further by either prepaying the full 99 $402 civil filing fee, or submitting a properly supported Motion to Proceed IFP, his Complaint will be screened before service and may be dismissed sua sponte pursuant to 28 23 U.S.C. § 1915A(b) and/or 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B), regardless of whether he pays the full $402 filing fee at once, or is granted IFP status and is obligated to pay the full filing fee in installments. See Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) 25 ||(noting that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e) “not only permits but requires” the court to sua sponte dismiss an in forma pauperis complaint that is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim, 6 or seeks damages from defendants who are immune); see also Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 27 || F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) (discussing similar screening required by 28 U.S.C. 28 § 1915A of all complaints filed by prisoners “seeking redress from a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity.’’)