Patton v. Rey

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJanuary 17, 2023
Docket3:22-cv-02028
StatusUnknown

This text of Patton v. Rey (Patton v. Rey) 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
Patton v. Rey, (S.D. Cal. 2023).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 7 8 ARNOLD PATTON Case No.: 3:22-cv-02028-CAB-MDD Inmate No. 20948281, 9 ORDER: Plaintiff, 10 v. (1) GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S 11 MOTION TO PROCEED IN FORMA ANTHONY REY, Interim Sheriff; 12 PAUPERIS [ECF No. 2]; SONIA L. MANNING, Facility

13 Commander; MONTGOMERY, Chief AND Medical Officer; COUNTY OF SAN 14 DIEGO, (2) SUA SPONTE DISMISSING 15 Defendants. COMPLAINT FOR FAILING TO 16 STATE A CLAIM PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) 17 18 19 Arnold Patton (“Plaintiff”), currently detained at the Vista Detention Facility 20 (“VDF”) in Vista, California, has filed a civil rights complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 21 § 1983. See Compl., ECF No. 1. Plaintiff did not pay the filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. 22 § 1914(a) to commence a civil action when he filed his Complaint; instead, he has filed a 23 Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See ECF 24 No. 2. 25 I. Motion to Proceed IFP 26 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 27 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 28 1 $400. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 2 prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 3 § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez v. 4 Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, a prisoner who is granted leave to 5 proceed IFP remains obligated to pay the entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” 6 Bruce v. Samuels, 577 U.S. 82, 84 (2016); Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th 7 Cir. 2015), and regardless of whether his action is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. 8 § 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 9 Section 1915(a)(2) requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a 10 “certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for ... the 6- 11 month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); 12 Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified trust account 13 statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average monthly deposits 14 in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly balance in the account 15 for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner has no assets. See 28 16 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). The institution having custody of the prisoner 17 then collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the preceding month’s income, in 18 any month in which his account exceeds $10, and forwards those payments to the Court 19 until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). 20 Plaintiff has submitted a copy of his San Diego Sheriff’s Department account 21 activity statement. See ECF No. 2 at 6-8. Based on this statement, the Court finds that 22 Plaintiff has had an average monthly balance of $47.92 and an average monthly deposit of 23 $100 for the six months prior to filing this action. 24 25

26 1 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative fee of $52. See 27 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec., 2020). The additional $50 administrative fee does not apply to persons granted leave to proceed IFP. 28 1 The Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP (ECF No. 2), and assesses 2 an initial partial filing fee of $20.00 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1915(b)(1)(A). The 3 Court directs the San Diego County Sheriff, or their designee, to collect this initial filing 4 fee only if sufficient funds are available in Plaintiff’s account at the time this Order is 5 executed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) (providing that “[i]n no event shall a prisoner be 6 prohibited from bringing a civil action or appealing a civil action or criminal judgment for 7 the reason that the prisoner has no assets and no means by which to pay the initial partial 8 filing fee.”); Bruce, 136 S. Ct. at 630; Taylor, 281 F.3d at 850 (finding that 28 U.S.C. 9 Section 1915(b)(4) acts as a “safety-valve” preventing dismissal of a prisoner’s IFP case 10 based solely on a “failure to pay . . . due to the lack of funds available to him when payment 11 is ordered.”). The Court further directs the San Diego County Sheriff, or their designee, to 12 collect the remaining balance of the filing fees required by 28 U.S.C. Section 1914 and to 13 forward it to the Clerk of the Court pursuant to the installment payment provisions set forth 14 in 28 U.S.C. Section 1915(b)(1). 15 II. Screening Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) 16 A. Standard of Review 17 Because he is proceeding IFP, Plaintiff’s Complaint is also subject to sua sponte 18 review, and mandatory dismissal, if it is “frivolous, malicious, fail[s] to state a claim upon 19 which relief may be granted, or seek[s] monetary relief from a defendant immune from 20 such relief.” See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B); Coleman v. Tollefson, 135 S. Ct. 1759, 1763 21 (2015) (pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) “the court shall dismiss the case at any time if 22 the court determines that—(A) the allegation of poverty is untrue; or (B) the action or 23 appeal—(i) is frivolous or malicious; [or] (ii) fails to state a claim on which relief may be 24 granted.”); Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1127 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (“[S]ection 25 1915(e) not only permits, but requires a district court to dismiss an in forma pauperis 26 complaint that fails to state a claim.”); Calhoun v. Stahl, 254 F.3d 845, 845 (9th Cir.

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Bluebook (online)
Patton v. Rey, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patton-v-rey-casd-2023.