(PC) Ryland v. Doer

• Court: District Court, E.D. California
• Decided: December 19, 2024
• Docket: 1:24-cv-01555
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 COREY RYLAND, No. 1:24-cv-01555-SAB (PC) 10 Plaintiff, ORDER DIRECTING CLERK OF COURT TO RANDOMLY ASSIGN A DISTRICT 11 v. JUDGE TO THIS ACTION 12 J. DOER, et al., FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDING DENIAL OF 13 PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO PROCEED IN Defendants. FORMA PAUPERIS 14 (ECF No. 2) 15

16 17 On December 18, 2024, Plaintiff filed the instant civil rights action, along with a motion 18 to proceed in forma pauperis. (ECF Nos. 1, 2.) 19 I. 20 DISCUSSION 21 A. Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis 22 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1) permits a plaintiff to bring a civil action “without prepayment of 23 fees or security thereof” if the plaintiff submits a financial affidavit that demonstrates the 24 plaintiff's “is unable to pay such fees or give security therefor.” A prisoner seeking to bring a civil 25 action must, in addition to filing an affidavit, “submit a certified copy of the trust fund account 26 statement ... for the 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint ... obtained 27 from the appropriate official of each prison at which the prisoner is or was confined.” 28 U.S.C. § 28 1 1915(a)(2). 2 Plaintiff has filed an application declaring that, due to his poverty, he is unable to pre-pay 3 the full amount of fees and costs for these proceedings or give security therefor, and that he 4 believes that he is entitled to the relief sought in his complaint. (ECF No. 2.) The certification 5 completed by an authorized prison official states Plaintiff: (1) currently has an available balance 6 of $673.43 in his inmate account; (2) had an average six-month balance of $680.26; and (3) had 7 average deposits of $29.17 over the last six-months. (Id.) Thus, the available balance in 8 Plaintiff’s account reflects that he can pay the $405.00 filing fee for this action. 9 Based on the foregoing, the information that Plaintiff has provided to the Court reflects 10 that he is financially able to pre-pay the entire filing fee to commence this action. Although the 11 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that “the filing fee ... should not take the prisoner’s last 12 dollar,” Olivares v. Marshall, 59 F.3d 109, 112 (9th Cir. 1995), in these circumstances, it appears 13 Plaintiff has sufficient funds to pre-pay the $405.00 filing fee with money left over. Should 14 Plaintiff have additional information to provide the Court, or should his available balance change 15 by the time he receives this order, he may notify the Court. However, the Court has the authority 16 to consider any reasons and circumstances for any change in Plaintiff's available assets and funds. 17 See Collier v. Tatum, 722 F.2d 653, 656 (11th Cir. 1983) (district court may consider an 18 unexplained decrease in an inmate's trust account, or whether an inmate's account has been 19 depleted intentionally to avoid court costs). Therefore, Plaintiff's motion to proceed in forma 20 pauperis should be denied. If Plaintiff wishes to proceed with this action, Plaintiff must pre-pay 21 the $405.00 filing fee in full. 22 II. 23 ORDER AND RECOMMENDATIONS 24 Based on the foregoing, it is HEREBY ORDERED that the Clerk of Court shall randomly 25 assign a District Judge to this action. 26 Further, it is HEREBY RECOMMENDED that: 27 1. Plaintiff’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis (ECF No. 2) be denied; and 28 2. Plaintiff be directed to pay the $405.00 filing fee for this action. 1 These Findings and Recommendations will be submitted to the United States District 2 | Judge assigned to the case, pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(). Within fourteen 3 | (14) days after being served with these Findings and Recommendations, Plaintiff may file written 4 | objections with the Court. The document should be captioned “Objections to Magistrate Judge’s 5 | Findings and Recommendations.” Plaintiff is advised that failure to file objections within the 6 | specified time may result in the waiver of rights on appeal. Wilkerson v. Wheeler, 772 F.3d 834, 7 | 838-39 (9th Cir. 2014) (citing Baxter v. Sullivan, 923 F.2d 1391, 1394 (9th Cir. 1991)). 8 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. FA. ee 10 | Dated: _ December 19, 2024 STANLEY A. BOONE 11 United States Magistrate Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28