Juarez v. Hill

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedApril 16, 2025
Docket3:24-cv-02315
StatusUnknown

This text of Juarez v. Hill (Juarez v. Hill) 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
Juarez v. Hill, (S.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 LUIS JUAREZ, Case No.: 24-cv-2315-MMA (LR) CDCR #AI-3330, 12 ORDER: Plaintiff, 13 vs. (1) GRANTING MOTION TO 14 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS; JAMES HILL, Warden, et al., 15 Defendants. [Doc. No. 2] 16

17 (2) DENYING MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME AS MOOT; 18 AND 19 [Doc. No. 5] 20

21 (3) SCREENING COMPLAINT PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. 22 §§ 1915(e)(2) & 1915A(b) 23 24 25 Plaintiff Luis Juarez, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, has filed a civil rights 26 Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Doc. No. 1. Plaintiff has not paid the civil 27 filing fee but has instead filed a Motion to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”). Doc. 28 No. 2. Plaintiff has also filed a motion seeking an extension of time to submit a prisoner 1 trust account statement in support of his IFP motion. Doc. No. 5. Because the Court has 2 received a copy of Plaintiff’s inmate trust account statement, see Doc. No. 3 at 1-3, the 3 Court DENIES Plaintiff’s motion for extension of time as moot. 4 I. MOTION TO PROCEED IFP 5 Anyone instituting a civil action in a district court of the United States must 6 typically pay a filing fee of $405, consisting of a $350 statutory fee plus an additional 7 administrative fee of $55, although the administrative fee does not apply to persons 8 granted leave to proceed IFP. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of 9 Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2023)). The action may 10 proceed despite a failure to prepay the entire fee only if IFP is granted pursuant to 28 11 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007). 12 Section 1915(a)(2) requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a “certified 13 copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 6-month 14 period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); 15 Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified trust account 16 statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average monthly 17 deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly balance in the 18 account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner has insufficient 19 assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1)&(4); Bruce v. Samuels, 577 U.S. 82, 84 (2016). 20 Prisoners who proceed IFP must pay any remaining balance in “increments” or 21 “installments,” regardless of whether their action is ultimately dismissed. 28 U.S.C. 22 § 1915(b)(1)&(2); Bruce, 577 U.S. at 84. 23 In support of his IFP Motion, Plaintiff has submitted a copy of his California 24 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) Inmate Statement Report which 25 indicates that during the six months prior to filing suit Plaintiff had an average monthly 26 balance of $531.71, average monthly deposits of $180.00, and an available balance of 27 $459.53 in his account at the time he filed suit. Doc. No. 3 at 3. The Court GRANTS 28 Plaintiff’s motion to proceed IFP assesses an initial partial filing fee of $106.34 pursuant 1 to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). This initial fee need be collected only if sufficient funds are 2 available in Plaintiff’s account. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) (providing that “[i]n no event 3 shall a prisoner be prohibited from bringing a civil action or appealing a civil action or 4 criminal judgment for the reason that the prisoner has no assets and no means by which to 5 pay the initial partial filing fee”); Taylor, 281 F.3d at 850 (finding that 28 U.S.C. 6 § 1915(b)(4) acts as a “safety-valve” preventing dismissal of a prisoner’s IFP case based 7 solely on a “failure to pay . . . due to the lack of funds available to him when payment is 8 ordered”). Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2), the CDCR or any agency later having 9 custody will forward payments to the Clerk until the $350 statutory fee is paid in full. 10 II. SCREENING PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) & 1915A(b) 11 A. Standard of Review 12 Because Plaintiff is a prisoner and is proceeding IFP, his Complaint requires a pre- 13 Answer screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) & 1915A(b). The Court must sua 14 sponte dismiss a prisoner’s IFP complaint, or any portion of it, which is frivolous, 15 malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are immune. 16 Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126–27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (citing 28 U.S.C. 17 § 1915(e)(2)); Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) (28 U.S.C. 18 § 1915A(b)). 19 “The standard for determining whether a plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon 20 which relief can be granted under § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) is the same as the Federal Rule of 21 Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) standard for failure to state a claim.” Watison v. Carter, 668 22 F.3d 1108, 1112 (9th Cir. 2012); see also Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th 23 Cir. 2012) (noting that § 1915A screening “incorporates the familiar standard applied in 24 the context of failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6)”). 25 Rule 12(b)(6) requires a complaint to “contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, 26 to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 27 678 (2009), quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). 28 “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief [is] . . . a context- 1 specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and 2 common sense.” Id. 3 Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983

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Juarez v. Hill, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/juarez-v-hill-casd-2025.