Ramsey v. Zhang-MD

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJune 23, 2020
Docket3:20-cv-01076
StatusUnknown

This text of Ramsey v. Zhang-MD (Ramsey v. Zhang-MD) 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. Zhang-MD, (S.D. Cal. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DANIEL RAMSEY, Case No.: 3:20-cv-01076-AJB-RBB CDCR #K-99536, 12 ORDER: Plaintiff, 13 vs. 1) GRANTING MOTION TO 14 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS;

15 RONALD ZHANG, M.D.; AND 16 S. GATES, 17 Defendants. 2) DISMISSING COMPLAINT FOR FAILING TO STATE A CLAIM 18 PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) 19 AND 28 U.S.C. § § 1915A(b) 20 21 22 Daniel Ramsey (“Plaintiff”), proceeding pro se, is currently incarcerated at Richard 23 J. Donovan Correctional Facility (“RJD”) in San Diego, California, and has filed this 24 civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See Compl., ECF No. 1. 25 Plaintiff did not prepay the civil filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) at the 26 time of filing, but instead has filed a Prison Trust Fund Account Statement which the 27 Court liberally construes to be a Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant 28 to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a) (ECF No. 3). 1 I. IFP Motion 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 $400.1 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, 136 S. Ct. at 629; Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 2015), and 10 regardless of whether his action is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & 11 (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 18 balance in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner 19 has no assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). The institution having 20 custody of the prisoner then collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the 21 preceding month’s income, in any month in which his account exceeds $10, and forwards 22 those payments to the Court until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2); 23 Bruce, 136 S. Ct. at 629. 24

25 1 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative 26 fee of $50. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court 27 Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. June 1, 2016). The additional $50 administrative fee does not apply to persons granted leave to proceed IFP. Id. 28 1 Plaintiff has submitted a certified copy of his CDCR Inmate Statement Report 2 showing his trust account activity at the time of filing, as well as a Prison Certificate 3 signed by an RJD Accounting Officer attesting as to his monthly balances and deposits. 4 See ECF No. 3 at 1-3; 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); S.D. CAL. CIVLR 3.2; Andrews, 398 F.3d 5 at 1119. These statements show Plaintiff had no monthly deposits to his account, 6 maintained an average balance of $.42 in his account over the six month period preceding 7 the filing of his current Complaint, and had an available balance of only $.18 to his credit 8 at RJD as of June 15, 2020. See id.; 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) (providing that “[i]n no event 9 shall a prisoner be prohibited from bringing a civil action or appealing a civil action or 10 criminal judgment for the reason that the prisoner has no assets and no means by which to 11 pay the initial partial filing fee.”); Bruce, 136 S. Ct. at 630; Taylor, 281 F.3d at 850 12 (finding that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) acts as a “safety-valve” preventing dismissal of a 13 prisoner’s IFP case based solely on a “failure to pay ... due to the lack of funds available 14 to him when payment is ordered.”). 15 Therefore, the Court grants Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP (ECF No. 3), 16 declines to exact any initial filing fee because his trust account statement shows he “has 17 no means to pay it,” Bruce, 136 S. Ct. at 629, and directs the Secretary of the CDCR to 18 collect the entire $350 balance of the filing fees required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914 and 19 forward them to the Clerk of the Court pursuant to the installment payment provisions set 20 forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). See id. 21 II. Initial Screening per 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) and 1915A(b) 22 A. Standard of Review 23 Notwithstanding Plaintiff’s IFP status or the payment of any partial filing fees, the 24 PLRA also obligates the Court to review complaints filed by all persons proceeding IFP 25 and by those, like Plaintiff, who are “incarcerated or detained in any facility [and] 26 accused of, sentenced for, or adjudicated delinquent for, violations of criminal law or the 27 terms or conditions of parole, probation, pretrial release, or diversionary program,” “as 28 soon as practicable after docketing,” and ideally before the service of process upon any 1 Defendant. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) and 1915A(b). Under these statutes, the Court 2 must sua sponte dismiss complaints, or any portions thereof, which are frivolous, 3 malicious, fail to state a claim, or which seek damages from defendants who are immune. 4 See Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (§ 1915(e)(2)); 5 Rhodes v.

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Bluebook (online)
Ramsey v. Zhang-MD, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ramsey-v-zhang-md-casd-2020.