Reed v. Buckel

District Court, S.D. California·Decided May 14, 2024·No. 3:24-cv-00179·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MYCHAL REED, Case No.: 24-cv-0179-MMA (AHG) CDCR #AE-9821 12 ORDER: (1) GRANTING MOTION Plaintiff, 13 TO PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS [Doc. No. 7] 14

vs. 15 (2) DENYING IFP MOTIONS Doc. Nos. 4, 9 AS MOOT; 16

A. BUCKEL, S. STEADMAN, T. 17 (3) DENYING REQUESTS FOR MARTINEZ, B. COLON, B. CATES, JUDICIAL NOTICE [Doc. No. 6] 18 CHRISTIAN PHIFFER, R. NICKLES, H. AND EXTENSION OF TIME [Doc. ARREOLA, K. TAMEZ, H. MOSELEY, 19 No. 8] AS MOOT Defendants. 20 (2) DISMISSING COMPLAINT 21 WITHOUT PREJUDICE PER FRCP 8(a) AND 28 U.S.C. 22 §§ 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii), 1915A(b)(1) 23 24 INTRODUCTION 25 On January 25, 2024, Mychal Reed (“Plaintiff” or “Reed”), an inmate proceeding 26 pro se, filed a civil rights Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Doc. No. 1. On January 27 29, 2024, the Court denied Reed’s request to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) and 28 dismissed the action because Reed failed to adequately support his IFP motion as required 1 under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Doc. No. 3. The Court notified Plaintiff that to have his 2 case reopened he must submit a properly supported IFP motion or pay the filing fee within 3 45 days. Id. at 2–3. 4 On February 20, 2024, Reed filed an IFP motion. Doc. No. 4. He subsequently filed 5 two more IFP applications on March 14, 2022 and April 1, 2024, respectively. Doc. Nos. 6 7, 9. Reed has also filed a request for judicial notice and a motion for extension of time. 7 Doc. Nos. 6, 8. For the reasons discussed below the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s March 14, 8 2024 application to proceed IFP, DENIES the other IFP motions as moot, DENIES the 9 requests for judicial notice and an extension of time as MOOT, and DISMISSES the 10 Complaint without prejudice and with leave to amend. 11 MOTIONS TO PROCEED IFP 12 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 13 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 14 $405. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 15 prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 16 § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez v. 17 Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, all prisoners who proceed IFP must 18 pay the entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” Bruce v. Samuels, 577 U.S. 82, 83–84 19 (2016), and regardless of whether their action is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. 20 § 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 21 Section 1915(a)(2) requires all persons seeking to proceed without full prepayment 22 of fees to file an affidavit that includes a statement of all assets possessed and demonstrates 23 an inability to pay. See Escobedo v. Applebees, 787 F.3d 1226, 1234 (9th Cir. 2015). In 24 support of this affidavit, the PLRA also requires prisoners to submit a “certified copy of 25 the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 6-month period 26 immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. 27 King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). 28 / / / 1 Reed has three IFP Motions pending before the Court. Doc. Nos. 4, 7, 9. The motion 2 filed on February 20, 2024 lacks the support required under § 1915(a)(2); however, the 3 motion filed on March 14, 2024 includes a copy of Reed’s trust account statement and 4 prison certificate. Doc. No. 7 at 4, 6. Based on those documents, Reed has an average 5 monthly balance of $0.00, average monthly deposits of $0.00, and an available account 6 balance of $0. Id. Therefore, the Court finds Plaintiff has established an inability to pay 7 the required $350 filing fee and GRANTS his March 14, 2024 IFP motion (Doc. No. 7). 8 While the Court assesses no initial payment, Plaintiff will be required to pay the full $350 9 filing fee in installments to be collected from his trust account as set forth in 28 U.S.C. 10 § 1915(b)(2). Plaintiff’s other two IFP motions (Doc. Nos. 4, 9) are DENIED as moot. 11 MOTIONS FOR JUDICIAL NOTICE AND EXTENSION OF TIME 12 On March 13, 2024, requested the Court take judicial notice of his attempts to obtain 13 his prison certificate and a copy of his trust account statement. Doc. No. 6. On March 20, 14 2024 he filed a request for an extension of time to obtain those documents. Doc. No. 8. 15 Because the Court has granted IFP, both requests are DENIED as moot. 16 SCREENING PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(E) AND § 1915A(B) 17 A. Legal Standards 18 Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) and § 1915A(b), the Court must screen a 19 prisoner’s IFP complaint and sua sponte dismiss it to the extent that it is frivolous, 20 malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are immune. See 21 Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126–27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc); Rhodes v. Robinson, 22 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010). “The standard for determining whether Plaintiff has 23 failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) is the 24 same as the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) standard for failure to state a claim.” 25 Watison v. Carter, 668 F.3d 1108, 1112 (9th Cir. 2012). Rule 12(b)(6) requires that a 26 complaint to “contain sufficient factual matter . . . to state a claim to relief that is plausible 27 on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). 28 While detailed factual allegations are not required, “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements 1 of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice” to state a 2 claim. Id. The “mere possibility of misconduct” or “unadorned, the defendant-unlawfully- 3 harmed me accusation[s]” fall short of meeting this plausibility standard. Id. 4 Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983 “creates a private right of action against individuals who, 5 acting under color of state law, violate federal constitutional or statutory rights.” 6 Devereaux v. Abbey, 263 F.3d 1070, 1074 (9th Cir. 2001).

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