Sanchez v. Webster

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedNovember 22, 2019
Docket3:19-cv-01707
StatusUnknown

This text of Sanchez v. Webster (Sanchez v. Webster) 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
Sanchez v. Webster, (S.D. Cal. 2019).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MIGUEL SANCHEZ, Case No.: 3:19-cv-01707-BAS-JLB CDCR #AC-8280, 12 ORDER: Plaintiff, 13 vs. (1) GRANTING MOTION 14 TO PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS WEBSTER, Correctional Officer; 15 [ECF No. 2] GROUD, Correctional Officer;

16 C. AYALA, Correctional Officer; AND J. GARCIA, Correctional Officer; 17 Sgt. DURAN, (2) DISMISSING COMPLAINT 18 FOR FAILING TO STATE A CLAIM 19 Defendants. PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) AND § 1915A(b)(1) 20 21 22 Plaintiff Miguel Sanchez, currently incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Correctional 23 Facility (“RJD”), in San Diego, California, and proceeding pro se, has filed a civil rights 24 Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (See “Compl.,” ECF No. 1 at 1.) Plaintiff claims 25 several correctional officials entered his cell on August 28, 2019, August 31, 2019, and 26 September 1, 2019, “trashed” his personal property and “stole” or “destroy[ed] [his] 27 confidential court legal mail” in retaliation for a CDCR 602 inmate appeal he filed in 28 December 2018. (Id. at 1‒5.) 1 Plaintiff has not paid the filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a); instead, he has 2 filed a Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). 3 (ECF No. 2.) 4 I. Motion to Proceed IFP 5 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 6 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 7 $400.1 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 8 prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 9 § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez v. 10 Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, a prisoner granted leave to proceed 11 IFP remains obligated to pay the entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” Bruce v. 12 Samuels, 136 S. Ct. 627, 629 (2016), and regardless of whether his action is ultimately 13 dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th 14 Cir. 2002). 15 Section 1915(a)(2) requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a 16 “certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 17 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. 18 § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified 19 trust account statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average 20 monthly deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly balance 21 in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner has no 22 assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). The institution having custody 23 of the prisoner then collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the preceding 24 month’s income, in any month in which his account exceeds $10, and forwards those 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 payments to the Court until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2); Bruce, 2 136 S. Ct. at 629. 3 In support of his IFP Motion, Plaintiff has submitted a copy of his CDCR Inmate 4 Statement Report as well as a Prison Certificate completed by Sr. Accounting Officer. (See 5 ECF No. 3 at 1‒3.); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); Civ. L. R. 3.2. These statements show Plaintiff 6 maintained no average monthly balance, had no monthly deposits credited to his account 7 over the 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of his Complaint, and had an 8 available balance of zero on the books at the time of filing. (See ECF No. 3 at 1, 3.) In 9 fact, Plaintiff owes $17.20 to the institution for copy charges advanced to him and for 10 damages to his ID card. (Id. at 3.) 11 Therefore, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP (ECF No. 2) and 12 assesses no initial partial filing pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). See 28 U.S.C. 13 § 1915(b)(4); Taylor, 281 F.3d at 850 (finding that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) acts as a “safety- 14 valve” preventing dismissal of a prisoner’s IFP case based solely on a “failure to pay . . . 15 due to the lack of funds available to him when payment is ordered.”). The Court will direct 16 the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”), 17 or his designee, to collect the full $350 total fee owed in this case and to forward 18 installments to the Clerk of the Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). 19 II. Initial Screening per 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) and 1915A(b) 20 A. Standard of Review 21 Because Plaintiff is a prisoner and is proceeding IFP, his Complaint requires a pre- 22 answer screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) and § 1915A(b). Under these statutes, 23 the Court must sua sponte dismiss a prisoner’s IFP complaint, or any portion of it, which 24 is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are 25 immune. See Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126–27 (9th Cir. 2000) (discussing 28 26 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)); Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) (discussing 27 28 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
Sanchez v. Webster, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sanchez-v-webster-casd-2019.