Springs v. Raber

District Court, S.D. California·Decided May 28, 2021·No. 3:21-cv-00862·Unknown

Opinion

JORDAN SPRINGS, Case No. 21cv862-MMA (AGS) CDCR #AS-6800, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO Plaintiff, PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS vs. AND DISMISSING COMPLAINT PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C.

§§ 1915(e)(2)(B) AND 1915A(b) SECRETARY DIAZ, WARDEN OFFICERS RABER, REYES, FERRAT, POLLARD, ESPOSITA and SCOTT, Defendants. Plaintiff Jordan Springs, incarcerated at Calipatria State Prison (“Calipatria”) in Calipatria, California, is proceeding pro se in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See Doc. No. 1. Plaintiff alleges that the Warden of Calipatria, the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”), and six Calipatria Correctional Officers are responsible for violations of his First Amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances, his Fifth Amendment right to due process and his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection, in connection to the processing of inmate grievances Plaintiff filed following an injury. See id. at 2-10. Plaintiff did not prepay the civil filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. Section 1914(a) at the time of filing and has instead filed a Motion to Proceed in Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1915(a). See Doc. No. 2. I. Motion to Proceed in Forma Pauperis All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of $402.1 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a failure to prepay the entire fee only if leave to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) is granted pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007). Section 1915(a)(2) also requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a “certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified trust account statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average monthly deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly balance in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner has no assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (4). The institution collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the preceding month’s income, in any month in which his account exceeds $10, and forwards those payments to the Court until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). Plaintiff remains obligated to pay the entire fee in monthly installments regardless of whether their action is ultimately dismissed. Bruce v. Samuels, 577 U.S. 82, 84 (2016); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). In support of his IFP motion, Plaintiff has submitted a copy of his CDCR Inmate 1 In addition to a $350 fee, civil litigants, other than those granted leave to proceed IFP, must pay an additional administrative fee of $52. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, Statement Report and Prison Certificate attested to by a CDCR trust account official. (ECF No. 2 at 6.) The document shows he had an average monthly balance of $140.68 and average monthly deposits of $251.67 for the 6-months preceding the filing of this action, and an available balance of $101.80 at the time of filing. Id. The Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP, exacts an initial filing fee of $50.33, which is 20% of $251.67, and directs the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”), or his designee, to collect and forward to the Clerk of Court the initial filing fee and thereafter collect the remaining $299.67 balance of the filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914 and forward it to the Clerk of the Court pursuant to the installment payment provisions set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). II. Screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) & 1915A(b) A. Standard of Review Because Plaintiff is a prisoner and is proceeding IFP, his Complaint requires a pre- Answer screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) & 1915A(b). Under these statutes, the Court must sua sponte dismiss a prisoner’s IFP complaint, or any portion of it, which is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are immune. See Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (discussing 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2); Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) (discussing 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)). “The purpose of § 1915A is to ensure that the targets of frivolous or malicious suits need not bear the expense of responding.” Nordstrom v. Ryan, 762 F.3d 903, 920 n.1 (9th Cir. 2014) (internal quote marks omitted). “The standard for determining whether a plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) is the same as the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) standard for failure to state a claim.” Watison v. Carter, 668 F.3d 1108, 1112 (9th Cir. 2012); see also Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 2012) (noting that § 1915A screening “incorporates the familiar standard applied in the context of failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).”) Rule 12(b)(6) requires a complaint to “contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009), quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). Detailed factual allegations are not required, but “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Springs v. Raber, (S.D. Cal. 2021).

Springs v. Raber (Springs v. Raber) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Estelle v. Gamble
429 U.S. 97 (Supreme Court, 1976)
City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc.
473 U.S. 432 (Supreme Court, 1985)
West v. Atkins
487 U.S. 42 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Graham v. Connor
490 U.S. 386 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Erickson v. Pardus
551 U.S. 89 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Engquist v. Oregon Department of Agriculture
553 U.S. 591 (Supreme Court, 2008)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Hebbe v. Pliler
627 F.3d 338 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Rhodes v. Robinson
621 F.3d 1002 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Ivey v. Board of Regents of University of Alaska
673 F.2d 266 (Second Circuit, 1982)