Sevelis v. Beckwith

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedMay 12, 2021
Docket2:21-cv-00745
StatusUnknown

This text of Sevelis v. Beckwith (Sevelis v. Beckwith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sevelis v. Beckwith, (D. Ariz. 2021).

Opinion

1 WO JL 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Timothy Scott Sevelis, No. CV 21-00745-PHX-JAT (MTM) 10 Plaintiff, 11 v. ORDER 12 Daniel Beckwith, et al., 13 14 Defendants.

15 16 On April 26, 2021, Plaintiff Timothy Scott Sevelis, who is in the custody of the 17 Federal Bureau of Prisons, filed a pro se document (Doc. 1).1 To facilitate consideration 18 of the document, the Clerk of Court docketed it as a civil rights Complaint pursuant to 28 19 U.S.C. § 1331 and Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 20 403 U.S. 388 (1971) (the “Complaint”). Plaintiff did not pay the $350.00 civil action filing 21 fee and $52.00 administrative fee or file an Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis. The 22 Court will dismiss the Complaint with leave to amend and will give Plaintiff 30 days to (1) 23 pay the filing and administrative fees or file a complete Application to Proceed In Forma 24 Pauperis and (2) file an amended complaint using the court-approved form included with 25 this Order. 26 . . . . 27

28 1 It appears that Plaintiff is housed at the Dismas Charities, Inc. Residential Reentry Center in Tucson, Arizona. 1 I. Payment of Filing Fee 2 When bringing an action, a prisoner must either pay the $350.00 filing fee and a 3 $52.00 administrative fee in a lump sum or, if granted the privilege of proceeding in forma 4 pauperis, pay the $350.00 filing fee incrementally as set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). 5 An application to proceed in forma pauperis requires an affidavit of indigence and a 6 certified copy of the inmate’s trust account statement for the six months preceding the filing 7 of the Complaint. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2). An inmate must submit statements from each 8 institution where he was confined during the six-month period. Id. To assist prisoners in 9 meeting these requirements, the Court requires use of a form application. LRCiv 3.4. 10 If a prisoner is granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis, the Court will assess an 11 initial partial filing fee of 20% of either the average monthly deposits or the average 12 monthly balance in Plaintiff’s account, whichever is greater. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). An 13 initial partial filing fee will only be collected when funds exist. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). 14 The balance of the $350.00 filing fee will be collected in monthly payments of 20% of the 15 preceding month’s income credited to an inmate’s account, each time the amount in the 16 account exceeds $10.00. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). 17 Because Plaintiff has not paid the $402.00 filing and administrative fees or filed an 18 Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis, Plaintiff will be permitted 30 days from the 19 filing date of this Order to submit a properly executed and certified Application to Proceed 20 In Forma Pauperis, using the form included with this Order, or pay the $402.00 filing and 21 administrative fees. 22 II. Statutory Screening of Prisoner Complaints 23 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief 24 against a governmental entity or an officer or an employee of a governmental entity. 28 25 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if a plaintiff 26 has raised claims that are legally frivolous or malicious, that fail to state a claim upon which 27 relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from 28 such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1)–(2). 1 Local Rule of Civil Procedure 3.4 requires in part that “[a]ll complaints and 2 applications to proceed in forma pauperis by incarcerated persons shall be signed and 3 legibly written or typewritten on forms approved by the Court and in accordance with the 4 instructions provided with the forms.” Plaintiff’s Complaint is not on a court-approved 5 form as required by Local Rule of Civil Procedure 3.4. Plaintiff’s Complaint will therefore 6 be dismissed without prejudice, with leave to amend, in order for Plaintiff to file an 7 amended complaint on a court-approved form. 8 The Court notes that Plaintiff has named as Defendants Dismas Charities 9 Incorporated and Director Daniel Beckwith. Dismas appears to be a private corporation, 10 and Beckwith appears to be a private employee of Dismas. Plaintiff should be aware that 11 a remedy does not exist under Bivens against private companies acting under color of 12 federal law in operating a Bureau of Prisons facility. Correctional Serv. Corp. v. Malesko, 13 534 U.S. 61, 63 (2001). In addition, a remedy does not exist under Bivens against a 14 privately employed individual working at a privately operated federal facility. Minneci v. 15 Pollard, 565 U.S. 118, 131 (2012). Finally, neither this Court nor Plaintiff may initiate 16 criminal charges against Defendants. 17 III. Leave to Amend 18 Within 30 days, Plaintiff may submit a first amended complaint on a court-approved 19 form. The Clerk of Court will mail Plaintiff a court-approved form to use for filing a first 20 amended complaint. If Plaintiff fails to use the court-approved form, the Court may strike 21 the amended complaint and dismiss this action without further notice to Plaintiff. 22 Plaintiff must clearly designate on the face of the document that it is the “First 23 Amended Complaint.” The first amended complaint must be retyped or rewritten in its 24 entirety on the court-approved form and may not incorporate any part of the original 25 Complaint by reference. Plaintiff may include only one claim per count. 26 A first amended complaint supersedes the original Complaint. Ferdik v. Bonzelet, 27 963 F.2d 1258, 1262 (9th Cir. 1992); Hal Roach Studios v. Richard Feiner & Co., 896 F.2d 28 1542, 1546 (9th Cir. 1990). After amendment, the Court will treat the original Complaint 1 as nonexistent. Ferdik, 963 F.2d at 1262. Any cause of action that was raised in the 2 original Complaint and that was voluntarily dismissed or was dismissed without prejudice 3 is waived if it is not alleged in a first amended complaint. Lacey v. Maricopa County, 693 4 F.3d 896, 928 (9th Cir. 2012) (en banc). 5 IV. Warnings 6 A. Address Changes 7 Plaintiff must file and serve a notice of a change of address in accordance with Rule 8 83.3(d) of the Local Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiff must not include a motion for other 9 relief with a notice of change of address. Failure to comply may result in dismissal of this 10 action. 11 B. Possible Dismissal 12 If Plaintiff fails to timely comply with every provision of this Order, including these 13 warnings, the Court may dismiss this action without further notice. See Ferdik v. Bonzelet, 14 963 F.2d 1258, 1260-61 (9th Cir. 1992) (a district court may dismiss an action for failure 15 to comply with any order of the Court).

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Related

Correctional Services Corp. v. Malesko
534 U.S. 61 (Supreme Court, 2001)
Michael Henry Ferdik v. Joe Bonzelet, Sheriff
963 F.2d 1258 (Ninth Circuit, 1992)
United States v. Judy Louise Brown Markum
4 F.3d 891 (Tenth Circuit, 1993)
Minneci v. Pollard
181 L. Ed. 2d 606 (Supreme Court, 2012)

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Bluebook (online)
Sevelis v. Beckwith, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sevelis-v-beckwith-azd-2021.