Swan v. R. J. Donovan C.F.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedNovember 24, 2021
Docket3:21-cv-01455
StatusUnknown

This text of Swan v. R. J. Donovan C.F. (Swan v. R. J. Donovan C.F.) 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
Swan v. R. J. Donovan C.F., (S.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MARCUS ANTHONY SWAN, Case No.: 21-cv-01455-JLS-MDD CDCR #BI-4007, 12 ORDER: Plaintiff, 13 v. (1) GRANTING LEAVE TO 14 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS; R.J. DONOVAN C.F., Correctional 15 AND Institution; M. POLLARD, Institution

16 Warden; M.A. GLYNN, Institution (2) DISMISSING COMPLAINT FOR C.E.O.; DEPARTMENT OF 17 FAILING TO STATE A CLAIM REHABILITATION, Department of PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. 18 Corrections, § 1915(e)(2)(B) AND 19 Defendants. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)

20 [ECF Nos. 2; 3] 21 22 On August 13, 2021, pro se Plaintiff Marcus Anthony Swan, while incarcerated at 23 Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (“RJD”) in San Diego, California, filed a civil 24 rights complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (See ECF No. 1 (“Compl.”) at 1.) Plaintiff 25 did not prepay the civil filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). Instead, he filed a Prison 26 Certificate and CDCR Inmate Statement Report. (ECF Nos. 2; 3.) The Court liberally 27 construes these filings as a request for leave to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant 28 to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). 1 LEAVE 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 $402.1 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). An 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); Rodriguez v. 7 Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). The fee is not waived for prisoners, however. 8 If granted leave to proceed IFP, prisoners nevertheless remain obligated to pay the entire 9 fee in “increments” or “installments,” Bruce v. Samuels, 577 U.S. 82, 84 (2016); Williams 10 v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 2015), regardless of whether their actions are 11 dismissed for other reasons. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1), (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 12 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 13 To qualify, § 1915(a)(2) requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a 14 “certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 15 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. 16 § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified 17 trust account statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average 18 monthly deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly balance 19 in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner has no 20 assets. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(b)(1) & (4). The institution having custody of the prisoner 21 then collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the preceding month’s income, in 22 any month in which his account exceeds $10, and forwards those payments to the Court 23 until the entire filing fee is paid. See id. § 1915(b)(2); Bruce, 577 U.S. at 84. 24

25 26 1 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay a $52 administrative fee. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. 27 Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2020)). The $52 administrative fee does not apply to 28 persons granted leave to proceed IFP. Id. 1 Plaintiff has submitted Prison Certificates and certified copies of his CDCR Inmate 2 Statement Reports covering January through August 16, 2021. (See ECF Nos. 2 at 1‒3; 3 3 at 1‒3.) These documents show that Plaintiff carried an average monthly balance of $4.47, 4 had an average monthly deposit of $4.40 to his account over the 6-month period 5 immediately preceding the filing of his Complaint, and had an available balance of $7.34 6 at the time of filing. (ECF No. 3 at 1, 3.) 7 Based on this accounting, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff leave to proceed IFP and 8 assesses an initial partial filing fee of $.89 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). However, 9 this initial fee need be collected only if sufficient funds are available in Plaintiff’s account 10 at the time this Order is executed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) (providing that “[i]n no 11 event shall a prisoner be prohibited from bringing a civil action or appealing a civil action 12 or criminal judgment for the reason that the prisoner has no assets and no means by which 13 to pay the initial partial filing fee”); Bruce, 577 U.S. at 86; Taylor, 281 F.3d at 850 (finding 14 that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) acts as a “safety-valve” preventing dismissal of a prisoner’s 15 IFP case based solely on a “failure to pay . . . due to the lack of funds available to him when 16 payment is ordered”). The remaining balance of the $350 fee owed in this case must be 17 collected by the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 18 (“CDCR”), or any subsequent agency having custody of Plaintiff, and forwarded to the 19 Clerk of the Court pursuant to the installment payment provisions set out in 28 U.S.C. 20 § 1915(b)(2). 21 SCREENING PER 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) AND 1915A(b) 22 I. Legal Standards 23 A. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) and 1915A(b) 24 Because Plaintiff is a prisoner, his Complaint requires pre-answer screening 25 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) and 1915A(b). Under these statutes, the Court 26 must sua sponte dismiss a prisoner’s IFP complaint, or any portion of it that is frivolous, 27 malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are immune. See 28 Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126–27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (discussing 28 U.S.C. 1 § 1915(e)(2)); Rhodes v.

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Bluebook (online)
Swan v. R. J. Donovan C.F., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/swan-v-r-j-donovan-cf-casd-2021.