Ramsey v. Thompson

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedDecember 12, 2023
Docket3:23-cv-01920
StatusUnknown

This text of Ramsey v. Thompson (Ramsey v. Thompson) 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
Ramsey v. Thompson, (S.D. Cal. 2023).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DANIEL C. RAMSEY, Case No.: 3:23-cv-01920-JAH-DDL CDCR #K99536, 12 ORDER: Plaintiff, 13 vs. (1) GRANTING MOTION TO 14 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS N. THOMPSON, H. MOSELEY., 15 [ECF No. 2]; Defendants. 16 (2) SCREENING COMPLAINT 17 PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) and 28 U.S.C. § 1915A 18

20 21 Daniel C. Ramsey (“Plaintiff” or “Ramsey”), a state prisoner currently incarcerated 22 at High Desert State Prison (“HDSP”) in Susanville, California and proceeding pro se, filed 23 a civil rights complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 on June 29, 2023 alleging his Eighth 24 and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated while he was incarcerated at Richard J. 25 Donovan State Prison (“RJD”), and that Defendants conspired to violate his constitutional 26 rights. ECF No. 1. Plaintiff did not pay the civil filing fee, but he did file a Motion to 27 Proceed in Forma Paupers (“IFP”). ECF No. 2. 28 1 I. Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis 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 $405.1 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 5 prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 6 § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez v. 7 Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, a prisoner who is granted leave to 8 proceed IFP remains obligated to pay the entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” 9 Bruce v. Samuels, 577 U.S. 82, 85 (2016); Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th 10 Cir. 2015), and regardless of whether his action is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. 11 § 1915(b)(1), (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 12 Section 1915(a)(2) requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a 13 “certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 14 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. 15 § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified 16 trust account statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average 17 monthly deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly balance 18 in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner has no 19 assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). The institution having custody 20 of the prisoner then collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the preceding 21 month’s income, in any month in which his account exceeds $10, and forwards those 22 payments to the Court until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2); Bruce, 23 577 U.S. at 85. 24 25 1 In civil actions except for applications for a writ of habeas corpus, civil litigants bringing 26 suit must pay the $350 statutory fee in addition to a $55 administrative fee. See 28 U.S.C. 27 § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2023). The $55 administrative fee does not apply to persons granted leave to 28 1 In support of his IFP Motion, Plaintiff has submitted a certified copy of his trust 2 account statement pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2) and S.D. Cal. Civ. L.R. 3.2. See ECF 3 No. 2 at 4; Andrews, 398 F.3d at 1119. This document shows Plaintiff had an available 4 balance of $0.00 at the time of filing. See ECF No. 2 at 4. Therefore, the Court GRANTS 5 Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP (ECF No. 2), declines to exact the initial filing fee 6 because his trust account statement indicates he may have “no means to pay it,” Bruce, 577 7 U.S. at 85, and directs the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and 8 Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) or his designee, to instead collect the entire $350 balance of the 9 filing fees required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914 pursuant to the installment payment provisions set 10 forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) and forward them to the Clerk of the Court. See 28 U.S.C. 11 § 1915(b)(4) (providing that “[i]n no event shall a prisoner be prohibited from bringing a 12 civil action or appealing a civil action or criminal judgment for the reason that the prisoner 13 has no assets and no means by which to pay the initial partial filing fee”). Bruce, 577 U.S. 14 at 85; Taylor, 281 F.3d at 850 (finding that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) acts as a “safety-valve” 15 preventing dismissal of a prisoner’s IFP case based solely on a “failure to pay . . . due to 16 the lack of funds available to him when payment is ordered”). 17 II. Screening Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) 18 A. Legal Standard 19 Plaintiff’s Complaint requires a pre-answer screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 20 § 1915(e)(2). Calhoun v. Stahl, 254 F.3d 845 (9th Cir. 2001) (per curium) (holding 21 1915(e)(2) screening applies to non-prisoners proceeding IFP). Under this statute, the 22 Court must sua sponte dismiss an IFP complaint, or any portion of it, which is frivolous, 23 malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are immune. See 24 Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (discussing 28 U.S.C. 25 § 1915(e)(2)); Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) (discussing 28 26 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)). “The purpose of [screening] is ‘to ensure that the targets of frivolous 27 or malicious suits need not bear the expense of responding.’” Nordstrom v. Ryan, 762 F.3d 28 903, 920 n.1 (9th Cir. 2014) (citation omitted).

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Ramsey v. Thompson, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ramsey-v-thompson-casd-2023.