Martin v. Williams

Opinion

1 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

4 ANTHONY MARTIN, Case No. 2:20-cv-2300-RFB-NJK

5 Plaintiff ORDER

6 v.

7 BRIAN WILLIAMS, et al.,

8 Defendants

9 10 I. DISCUSSION 11 On December 18, 2020, Plaintiff, an inmate in the custody of the Nevada Department of 12 Corrections (“NDOC”), submitted a civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and filed an 13 application to proceed in forma pauperis. Docket Nos. 1-1, 1. Plaintiff’s complaint and Plaintiff's 14 application to proceed in forma pauperis are both incomplete. 15 Plaintiff's Complaint 16 Upon review, the Court notes that Plaintiff did not sign the complaint, Docket No. 1-1. 17 Under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a plaintiff who is not represented by 18 counsel is required to sign his complaint. Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(a). Because Plaintiff did not sign the 19 complaint, the Court cannot consider it. 20 As such, the Court grants Plaintiff a one-time extension to submit a signed amended 21 complaint to the Court on or before February 22, 2021. If Plaintiff chooses to file an amended 22 complaint, he is advised that an amended complaint supersedes (replaces) the original complaint 23 and, thus, the amended complaint must be complete in itself. See Hal Roach Studios, Inc. v. 24 Richard Feiner & Co., Inc., 896 F.2d 1542, 1546 (9th Cir. 1989). Therefore, a mere signature 25 page will not be sufficient. Plaintiff should file the amended complaint on this Court’s approved 26 prisoner civil rights form, and it must be entitled “First Amended Complaint.” 27 Plaintiff's Application to Proceed in Forma Pauperis 28 Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2) and Local Rule LSR 1-2, an inmate seeking to begin a civil 1 action in this Court may apply to proceed in forma pauperis in order to file the civil action without 2 prepaying the full $402 filing fee. To apply for in forma pauperis status, the inmate must submit 3 all three of the following documents to the Court: 4 (1) a completed Application to Proceed in Forma Pauperis for Inmate, this Court’s 5 approved form (i.e. pages 1 through 3 with the inmate’s two signatures on page 3), 6 (2) a Financial Certificate properly signed by both the inmate and a prison or jail official 7 (i.e. page 4 of this Court’s approved form), and 8 (3) a copy of the inmate’s prison or jail trust fund account statement for the previous 9 six-month period. 10 Plaintiff has not affixed his two required signatures on page 3 of his application to proceed 11 in forma pauperis or provided a Financial Certificate and inmate account statement for the 12 previous six-month period with his application. Accordingly, the Court denies Plaintiff's 13 application to proceed in forma pauperis, Docket No. 1, without prejudice because the application 14 is incomplete. 15 The Court will grant Plaintiff a one-time extension until on or before February 22, 2021, 16 to file either a fully complete application to proceed in forma pauperis containing all three of the 17 required documents or pay the full $402 filing fee. Absent unusual circumstances, the Court will 18 not grant any further extensions of time. 19 If Plaintiff does not file either a fully complete application to proceed in forma pauperis 20 with all three required documents or pay the full $402 filing fee on or before February 22, 2021, 21 this case will be subject to dismissal without prejudice for Plaintiff to file a new case with the 22 Court when Plaintiff is able to either acquire all three of the documents needed to file a fully 23 complete application to proceed in forma pauperis or pays the full $402 filing fee. 24 A dismissal without prejudice means Plaintiff does not give up the right to refile the case 25 with the Court, under a new case number, when Plaintiff has all three documents needed to submit 26 with the application to proceed in forma pauperis. Plaintiff may also choose not to file an 27 application to proceed in forma pauperis and instead pay the full filing fee of $402 on or before 28 February 22, 2021 to proceed with this case. 1 II. CONCLUSION 2 For the foregoing reasons, IT IS ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court will send to 3 Plaintiff the approved form for filing a § 1983 complaint, instructions for the same, and a copy of 4 his original complaint, Docket No. 1-1. If Plaintiff files an amended complaint, he should use the 5 Court's approved form and he must write the words “First Amended” above the words “Civil 6 Rights Complaint” in the caption. 7 IT IS FURTHER ORDERD that if Plaintiff chooses to file a signed amended complaint, 8 Plaintiff will file the signed amended complaint to this Court on or before February 22, 2021. 9 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, if Plaintiff does not file a signed amended complaint on 10 or before February 22, 2021, this case will be subject to dismissal without prejudice for Plaintiff 11 to refile the case with the Court, under a new case number, when Plaintiff is able to file a signed 12 amended complaint. 13 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff’s application to proceed in forma pauperis, 14 Docket No. 1, is denied without prejudice to file either a new and fully complete application to 15 proceed in forma pauperis with all three documents or pay the full $402 filing fee. 16 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court will send Plaintiff the approved 17 form application to proceed in forma pauperis by an inmate, as well as the document entitled 18 information and instructions for filing an in forma pauperis application. 19 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that on or before February 22, 2021, Plaintiff will either 20 pay the full $402 filing fee for a civil action (which includes the $350 filing fee and the $52 21 administrative fee) or file with the Court: 22 (1) a completed Application to Proceed in Forma Pauperis for Inmate on this Court’s 23 approved form (i.e. pages 1 through 3 of the form with the inmate’s two signatures on page 24 3), 25 (2) a Financial Certificate properly signed by both the inmate and a prison or jail official 26 (i.e. page 4 of this Court’s approved form), and 27 (3) a copy of the inmate’s prison or jail trust fund account statement for the previous 28 six-month period. 1 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, if Plaintiff does not file a fully complete application to proceed in forma pauperis with all three documents or pay the full $402 filing fee for a civil action on or before February 22, 2021, this case will be subject to dismissal without prejudice for 4) Plaintiff to refile the case with the Court, under a new case number, when Plaintiff has all three 5 | documents needed to file a complete application to proceed in forma pauperis or pays the full $402 6 | filing fee. 7 IT IS SO ORDERED. 8 DATED: December 22, 2020 9 fo “he Q fe 10 Nancy J. < Ss 14 United States Magistrate Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

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