Shafihie v. San Diego Sheriff's Department

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJuly 21, 2023
Docket3:23-cv-01184
StatusUnknown

This text of Shafihie v. San Diego Sheriff's Department (Shafihie v. San Diego Sheriff's Department) 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
Shafihie v. San Diego Sheriff's Department, (S.D. Cal. 2023).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 ARASH SHAFIHIE, Case No.: 23-CV-1184 TWR (BLM) CDCR #BU-5269, 10 ORDER (1) GRANTING MOTION Plaintiff, 11 TO PROCEED IN FORMA v. PAUPERIS; (2) SCREENING 12 COMPLAINT PURSUANT TO SAN DIEGO SHERIFF’S 13 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) & 1915A; DEPARTMENT; CITY OF SAN DIEGO; (3) DISMISSING DEFENDANTS SAN 14 AUGUST MANSHEIM, Sheriff Deputy; DIEGO SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT MIGUEL ESPINOZA, Sheriff Deputy; 15 AND CITY OF SAN DIEGO; AND and RYAN HABERZETTLE, Sheriff (4) GRANTING PLAINTIFF LEAVE 16 Deputy, TO AMEND COMPLAINT 17 Defendants. (ECF Nos. 1, 2) 18 19 20 21 22 23 Presently before the Court is Plaintiff Arash Shafihie’s Complaint, (ECF No. 1, 24 “Compl.”), and Motion for Leave to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (“IFP”), (ECF No. 2, “IFP 25 Mot.”). Plaintiff is a pro se litigant who is currently housed at the California Health Care 26 Facility (“CHCF”) in Stockton, California. (See generally Compl.) Plaintiff’s Complaint, 27 filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleges that Diego County Sheriff’s Deputies 28 Mansheim, Espinoza, and Haberzettle utilized excessive force in violation of Plaintiff’s 1 constitutional rights while Plaintiff was held in custody at the George Bailey Detention 2 Facility (“GBDF”). (See id. at 3.) For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS 3 Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP, DISMISSES IN PART the Complaint WITHOUT 4 PREJUDICE, and GRANTS Plaintiff forty-five (45) days leave to amend the Complaint 5 or file a Notice of Intent to Proceed with the remaining claims. 6 I. Motion to Proceed IFP Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a) 7 A. Legal Standard 8 Any party instituting a civil action, suit, or proceeding in a United States district 9 court, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of $402.1 See 10 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). An action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to prepay the 11 entire fee only if they are granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). 12 See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007). Still, the Prison Litigation 13 Reform Act (“PLRA”) requires prisoners who are granted leave to proceed IFP to pay the 14 entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” Bruce v. Samuels, 577 U.S. 82, 83–84 (2016), 15 regardless of whether their action is ultimately dismissed, see 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1)–(2); 16 Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 17 Section 1915(a)(2) also requires individuals seeking leave to proceed IFP to file an 18 affidavit which includes a statement of assets and demonstrates an inability to pay. See 19 Escobedo v. Applebees, 787 F.3d 1226, 1234 (9th Cir. 2015). The affidavit must allege 20 poverty with some particularity and demonstrate that paying court costs will render the 21 plaintiff unable to afford the “necessities of life,” though it need not demonstrate that 22 plaintiff is destitute. Id. In support of this affidavit, the PLRA also requires prisoners to 23 submit a “certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for 24 . . . the 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. 25

26 1 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative fee of 27 $52. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2020)). The additional $52 administrative fee does not apply to persons granted leave 28 1 § 1915(a)(2); see also Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). Utilizing 2 this certified trust account statement, the court then assesses an initial payment of 20% of 3 (a) the average monthly deposits in the account for the past six months or (b) the average 4 monthly balance in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the 5 prisoner has no assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). The institution 6 having custody of the prisoner then collects all subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of 7 the preceding month’s income, in any month in which the balance in the account exceeds 8 $10, and forwards those payments to the court until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 9 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2); Bruce, 577 U.S. at 84‒85. 10 B. Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP 11 Upon filing his Complaint, Plaintiff did not pay the $402 civil and administrative 12 filing fees required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) to commence a civil action. (See generally 13 Docket.) Instead, Plaintiff filed a Motion to Proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). 14 (See generally IFP Mot.) In support of his IFP Motion, Plaintiff submitted a copy of his 15 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Inmate Trust Account Statement 16 Report as well as a Prison Certificate completed by an accounting officer at CHCF. (See 17 id. at 6–8); see also 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); S.D. Cal. Civ. L.R. 3.2; Andrews, 398 F.3d at 18 1119. Plaintiff’s Trust Account Statement Report shows that he maintained an average 19 monthly balance of $124.68 and had average monthly deposits of $67.99 credited to his 20 account over the 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of this Complaint. (See 21 IFP Mot. at 4–6.) At the time Plaintiff filed his Complaint, his account balance was $0.18. 22 (See id. at 8.) 23 Based on the foregoing financial information, the Court concludes that paying court 24 costs would render Plaintiff unable to afford the necessities of life. Accordingly, the Court 25 GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP, assesses an initial partial filing fee of $24.94 26 / / / 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1), and DIRECTS the Secretary of the California 2 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or the designated agency having custody of 3 Plaintiff, to collect the remaining balance of the $350 total fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 4 1914 and forward it to the Clerk of the Court pursuant to the installment payment 5 provisions set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). 6 II. Screening Pursuant to 28 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
Shafihie v. San Diego Sheriff's Department, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shafihie-v-san-diego-sheriffs-department-casd-2023.