Rivera v. Dzurenda

Opinion

3 ARIEL RIVERA Case No.: 2:19-cv-00961-JAD-BNW

4 Plaintiff

5 v. Order Dismissing and Closing Case

6 JAMES DZURENDA, [ECF Nos. 32 and 33]

7 Defendant

9 Ariel Rivera moves to withdraw his complaint,1 and I construe that request as a motion to 10 voluntarily dismiss this action. Rivera also asks the court to provide him copies of all documents 11 filed by him in this action.2 I grant the motion to withdraw, and I dismiss this case per Rivera’s 12 request. But I deny Rivera’s request for documents because the indigent-plaintiff statute does 13 not authorize the court to foot the bill for such copies. 14 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1) allows a plaintiff to dismiss a case without a 15 court order by filing “a notice of dismissal before the opposing party serves either an answer or a 16 motion for summary judgment.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(i). I grant Rivera’s motion to 17 voluntarily dismiss this action because no responsive pleading has been filed in this case, and I 18 do so without prejudice. 19 But I must deny Rivera’s request for copies of case documents. An inmate has no 20 constitutional right to free photocopying. Johnson v. Moore, 948 F.2d 517, 521 (9th Cir. 1991). 21 And the court cannot provide free copies even to indigent plaintiffs as 28 U.S.C. § 1915 does not 22

23 1 ECF No. 32. 2 ECF No. 33. 1} authorize the court to pay the costs for an indigent litigant’s general copy requests. If Rivera wishes to receive copies of electronically filed documents from the court, the cost is $0.10 per page. Nev. LR IC 1-1()(5); 28 U.S.C. § 1914. 4 IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Rivera’s motion to voluntarily dismiss this action 5|| [ECF No. 32] is GRANTED and THIS ACTION IS DISMISSED without prejudice. The Clerk of Court is directed to ENTER JUDGMENT accordingly and close this case. No other 7\|documents may be filed in this now-closed case. 8 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the motion for copies of all of Rivera’s filings in this 9} action [ECF No. 33] is DENIED. 10 Dated: February 2, 2021 canes U.S. District Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23