Rivera v. San Diego Central Jail

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJanuary 28, 2020
Docket3:19-cv-01259
StatusUnknown

This text of Rivera v. San Diego Central Jail (Rivera v. San Diego Central Jail) 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
Rivera v. San Diego Central Jail, (S.D. Cal. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JORGE RIVERA, CDCR #G-16129, Case No.: 19-CV-1259 JLS (NLS)

12 Plaintiff, ORDER: (1) GRANTING MOTION 13 vs. TO PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS, AND (2) DISMISSING 14 COMPLAINT FOR FAILING TO 15 SAN DIEGO CENTRAL JAIL; SAN STATE A CLAIM PURSUANT TO 28 DIEGO COUNTY SHERIFF; and JOHN U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) AND 1915A(b) 16 & JANE DOES, 17 Defendants. (ECF No. 7) 18

19 On July 8, 2019, Plaintiff Jorge Rivera, while incarcerated at the San Diego County 20 Central Jail (“SDCCJ”), filed this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging 21 several jail officials interfered with his right to religious worship and denied him access to 22 the courts, his medical devices, medical treatment, and clean drinking water. See generally 23 ECF No. 1 (“Compl.”). Plaintiff filed a Motion to Proceed in Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) 24 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See ECF No. 2. On July 31, 2019, the Court denied his 25 IFP motion for lack of documentation. See ECF No. 3. He has now filed a renewed Motion 26 to Proceed IFP (“IFP Mot.,” ECF No. 7). 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 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 $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). 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. 14 §§ 1915(b)(1), (4). The institution having custody of the prisoner then collects subsequent 15 payments, assessed at 20% of the preceding month’s income, in any month in which his 16 account exceeds $10, and forwards those payments to the Court until the entire filing fee 17 is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2); Bruce v. Samuels, 577 U.S. ___, 136 S. Ct. 627, 629 18 (2016). Prisoners who are granted leave to proceed IFP remain obligated to pay the entire 19 fee in monthly installments, regardless of whether their action is ultimately dismissed. 20 Bruce, 136 S. Ct. at 629; 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(b)(1), (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 21 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 22 In support of his IFP Motion, Plaintiff has submitted a copy of his California 23 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) Inmate Statement Report attested 24 by a CDCR trust account official. IFP Mot. at 4–5. This document shows Plaintiff had a 25

26 1 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative fee of $50. See 27 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. June 1, 2016). The additional $50 administrative fee does not apply to persons granted leave to proceed 28 1 single deposit of $12.23 in his trust account for the six months preceding the filing of this 2 action and an available balance of $0.03 at the time of filing the IFP Mot. See id. at 5. 3 The Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s IFP Motion; declines to exact any initial filing fee 4 because his prison certificates indicate he may have “no means to pay it,” Bruce, 136 S. 5 Ct. at 629; and directs the Secretary of the CDCR, or his designee, to instead collect the 6 entire $350 balance of the filing fees required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914 and forward them to 7 the Clerk of the Court pursuant to the installment payment provisions set forth in 28 U.S.C. 8 § 1915(b)(1). 9 SCREENING PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) AND 1915A(b) 10 I. Standard of Review 11 Because Petitioner is a prisoner and is proceeding IFP, his Complaint requires a pre- 12 Answer screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) and 1915A(b). Under these statutes, 13 the Court must sua sponte dismiss an IFP prisoner’s complaint, or any portion of it, which 14 is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are 15 immune. See Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126–27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (discussing 16 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)); Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) 17 (discussing 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)). “The purpose of § 1915A is to ensure that the targets 18 of frivolous or malicious suits need not bear the expense of responding.” Nordstrom v. 19 Ryan, 762 F.3d 903, 920 n.1 (9th Cir. 2014) (internal quote marks omitted). 20 “The standard for determining whether a plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon 21 which relief can be granted under § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) is the same as the Federal Rule of 22 Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) standard for failure to state a claim.” Watison v. Carter, 668 F.3d 23 1108, 1112 (9th Cir. 2012); see also Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 24 2012) (noting that screening pursuant to § 1915A “incorporates the familiar standard 25 applied in the context of failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 12(b)(6)”). Rule 12(b)(6) requires a complaint to “contain sufficient factual matter, 27 accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 28 / / / 1 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009), quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly,

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