Rapinoe v. San Diego County Sheriffs Officer

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJuly 15, 2021
Docket3:21-cv-01162
StatusUnknown

This text of Rapinoe v. San Diego County Sheriffs Officer (Rapinoe v. San Diego County Sheriffs Officer) 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
Rapinoe v. San Diego County Sheriffs Officer, (S.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 BRIAN JAMES RAPINOE, Case No.: 21cv1162-DMS (RBM) BOOKING #20944775, 12 ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO Plaintiff, 13 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS vs. AND DISMISSING COMPLAINT 14 WITH LEAVE TO AMEND

15 PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. SAN DIEGO COUNTY SHERIFF’S §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) & 1915A(b) 16 OFFICE, DOCTOR MONTGOMERY, DOCTOR RAFFI and DOCTOR ARCY, 17 Defendants. 18 19 20 Plaintiff Brian James Rapinoe, incarcerated at the Vista Detention Facility in Vista, 21 California, is proceeding pro se in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 22 (ECF No. 1.) Plaintiff claims he has been denied proper medical care because his knee 23 injury was not properly evaluated, his inmate grievances were not properly handled, and 24 the San Diego Sheriff’s Office has implemented a no-narcotics policy which prevents 25 doctors from providing proper medical care where narcotic pain medication is required. 26 (See id. at 2-5.) Plaintiff did not prepay the civil filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. Section 27 1914(a) at the time of filing and has instead filed a Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis 28 (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1915(a). (ECF No. 2.) 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 $402.1 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a failure to prepay the 5 entire fee only if leave to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) is granted pursuant to 28 6 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007). Section 7 1915(a)(2) also requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a “certified copy 8 of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 6-month period 9 immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. 10 King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified trust account statement, the 11 Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average monthly deposits in the account 12 for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly balance in the account for the past six 13 months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner has no assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) 14 &(4). The institution collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the preceding 15 month’s income, in any month in which the account exceeds $10, and forwards those 16 payments to the Court until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). 17 Plaintiff remains obligated to pay the entire fee in monthly installments regardless of 18 whether their action is ultimately dismissed. Bruce v. Samuels, 577 U.S. 82, 84 (2016); 28 19 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 20 Plaintiff’s prison certificate shows he had an average monthly balance of $0.83 and 21 average monthly deposits of $70.00 for the 6-months preceding the filing of this action, 22 and an available balance of $5.00. (ECF No. 2 at 4.) 23 The Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP and declines to impose an 24 initial partial filing fee pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) because his prison certificate 25

26 27 1 In addition to a $350 fee, civil litigants, other than those granted leave to proceed IFP, must pay an additional administrative fee of $52. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial 28 1 indicates he may have “no means to pay it.” See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) (providing that 2 “[i]n no event shall a prisoner be prohibited from bringing a civil action or appealing a civil 3 action or criminal judgment for the reason that the prisoner has no assets and no means by 4 which to pay the initial partial filing fee.”); Taylor, 281 F.3d at 850 (finding that 28 U.S.C. 5 § 1915(b)(4) acts as a “safety-valve” preventing dismissal of a prisoner’s IFP case based 6 solely on a “failure to pay . . . due to the lack of funds available to him when payment is 7 ordered.”) Instead, the Court directs the Secretary of the CDCR, or her designee, to collect 8 the entire $350 balance of the filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914 and to forward it to 9 the Clerk of the Court pursuant to the installment payment provisions set forth in 28 U.S.C. 10 § 1915(b)(1). 11 II. Screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) & 1915A(b) 12 A. Standard of Review 13 Because Plaintiff is a prisoner and is proceeding IFP, his Complaint requires a pre- 14 Answer screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) & 1915A(b). Under these statutes, 15 the Court must sua sponte dismiss a prisoner’s IFP complaint, or any portion of it, which 16 is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are 17 immune. See Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (discussing 18 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)); Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) 19 (discussing 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)). “The purpose of § 1915A is to ensure that the targets 20 of frivolous or malicious suits need not bear the expense of responding.” Nordstrom v. 21 Ryan, 762 F.3d 903, 920 n.1 (9th Cir. 2014) (internal quote marks omitted). 22 “The standard for determining whether a plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon 23 which relief can be granted under § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) is the same as the Federal Rule of 24 Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) standard for failure to state a claim.” Watison v. Carter, 668 F.3d 25 1108, 1112 (9th Cir. 2012); see also Wilhelm v.

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Rapinoe v. San Diego County Sheriffs Officer, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rapinoe-v-san-diego-county-sheriffs-officer-casd-2021.