Turner v. County of San Diego

District Court, S.D. California·Decided June 11, 2020·No. 3:20-cv-00652·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DAVID BRYAN TURNER, Jr., Case No.: 3:20-cv-0652-AJB-RBB Booking No. 19734785, 12 ORDER Plaintiff, 13 vs. 1) GRANTING MOTIONS TO 14 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS

15 (ECF Nos. 4, 6, 8) COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO; WILLIAM 16 D. GORE; SHERIFF DEPUTIES DOES AND 17 1-3; METROPOLITAN TRANSIT POLICE DOE 1, 2) DISMISSING COMPLAINT 18 Defendants. PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. 19 § 1915(e)(2) AND 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b) 20 21 David Bryan Turner, Jr. (“Plaintiff”), incarcerated at the George Bailey Detention 22 Facility1 (“GBDF”) in San Diego, California, has filed a pro se civil rights Complaint 23 24 1 According to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department’s website, Turner was last booked on June 4, 25 2019, has been sentenced, and is serving his prison term in San Diego Superior Court Case No. SCD282052 in local custody. See https://apps.sdsheriff.net/wij/wijDetail.aspx?BookNum=zRQs IHv WI 26 OkylpP4ARqdZiQYVorV1xdJ7ApeWLojNrs%3d (last accessed June 10, 2020). The Court may take judicial notice of public records available on online inmate locators. See United States v. Basher, 629 27 F.3d 1161, 1165 (9th Cir. 2011) (taking judicial notice of Bureau of Prisons’ inmate locator available to the public); see also Foley v. Martz, No. 3:18-cv-02001-CAB-AGS, 2018 WL 5111998, at *1 (S.D. Cal. 28 1 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 1983. (See ECF No. 1, Compl.) Plaintiff alleges that his 2 constitutional rights have been violated by unnamed San Diego County Sheriff Deputies 3 while housed at GBDF. (See id. at 3, 4.) In addition, Plaintiff alleges that in October of 4 2018 excessive force was used against him by unnamed San Diego County Sheriff 5 Deputies and unnamed Metropolitan Transit Officers (“MTS”). (Id. at 6.) 6 Plaintiff did not prepay the $400 civil filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. Section 7 1914(a) at the time of filing, and instead filed three Motions to Proceed In Forma 8 Pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1915(a). (See ECF Nos. 4, 6, 8.) 9 I. Motions to Proceed In Forma Pauperis 10 A. Standard of Review 11 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 12 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 13 $400.2 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 14 prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 15 Section 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007) 16 (hereafter “Cervantes”); Rodriguez v. Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). 17 However, a prisoner who is granted leave to proceed IFP remains obligated to pay 18 the entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” Bruce v. Samuels, 136 S. Ct. 627, 629 19 (2016); Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 2015), and regardless of 20 whether his action is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1)-(2); Taylor v. 21 Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 22 In addition to requiring prisoners to “pay the full amount of a filing fee,” in 23 “increments” as provided by 28 U.S.C. Section 1915(a)(3)(b), Williams, 775 F.3d at 24 1185, the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”) amended Section 1915 to preclude the 25 26 2 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative fee of $50. 27 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Oct. 1, 2019)). The additional $50 administrative fee does not apply to persons granted leave to 28 1 privilege to proceed IFP: 2 . . . if [a] prisoner has, on 3 or more prior occasions, while incarcerated or detained in any facility, brought an action or 3 appeal in a court of the United States that was dismissed on the 4 grounds that it is frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, unless the prisoner is under 5 imminent danger of serious physical injury. 6 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). “This subdivision is commonly known as the ‘three strikes’ 7 provision.” Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1116 n.1 (9th Cir. 2005). 8 “Pursuant to § 1915(g), a prisoner with three strikes or more cannot proceed IFP.” 9 Id.; see also Cervantes, 493 F.3d at 1052 (stating that under the PLRA, “[p]risoners who 10 have repeatedly brought unsuccessful suits may entirely be barred from IFP status under 11 the three strikes rule . . . .”). The objective of the PLRA is to further “the congressional 12 goal of reducing frivolous prisoner litigation in federal court.” Tierney v. Kupers, 128 13 F.3d 1310, 1312 (9th Cir. 1997). “[S]ection 1915(g)’s cap on prior dismissed claims 14 applies to claims dismissed both before and after the statute’s effective date.” Id. at 1311. 15 Once a prisoner has accumulated three strikes, section 1915(g) prohibits his pursuit 16 of any subsequent IFP civil action or appeal in federal court unless he faces “imminent 17 danger of serious physical injury.” See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g); Cervantes, 493 F.3d at 1051- 18 52 (noting § 1915(g)’s exception for IFP complaints which “make[] a plausible allegation 19 that the prisoner faced ‘imminent danger of serious physical injury’ at the time of filing.”). 20 The Court takes judicial notice of its own dockets on PACER which show Turner 21 has filed more than thirty similar cases over the course of the last ten years, most of them 22 alleging excessive force and the denial of medical care, and seeking monetary relief from 23 the City and County of San Diego, County Sheriff’s Department officials, and MTS.3 24 25

26 3 See https://ecf.casd.uscourts.gov (last accessed June 9, 2020). A court may take judicial notice of its 27 own records, see Molus v. Swan, No. 05cv452-MMA(WMc), 2009 WL 160937, *2 (S.D. Cal. 2009) (citing United States v. Author Servs., 804 F.2d 1520, 1523 (9th Cir. 1986)); Gerritsen v. Warner Bros. 28 1 B. Imminent Danger Exception 2 Here, Plaintiff alleges that he is in imminent danger of serious injury “because of 3 the Covid-19.” (Compl. at 3.) Plaintiff claims that he is “feeling sick and needs medical 4 care.” (Id.) He further claims that the conditions of his confinement are overcrowded 5 which has “placed [Plaintiff] and others in imminent danger of getting Covid-19.” (Id.) 6 The Court finds that these allegations are sufficient to find that Plaintiff has alleged 7 that he may be in “imminent danger” at the time he filed this action, and thus, is entitled 8 to proceed IFP. 9 C.

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