Vanness v. Wellpath Monroe County Detention Center

• Court: District Court, D. Nevada
• Decided: February 10, 2025
• Docket: 3:25-cv-00073
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

3 CRAIG ALAN VANNESS, Case No.: 3:25-cv-00073-MMD-CLB 4 Plaintiff, 5 ORDER v. 6 WELL PATH MONROE COUNTY 7 DETENTION CENTER, et al.,

8 Defendants.

9 I. SUMMARY 10 On February 7, 2025, pro se Plaintiff Craig Vanness, an inmate in the custody of 11 the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Key West, Florida, filed a document titled “Craig 12 Alan Vanness vs. Wellpath Monroe County Detention Center.” (ECF No. 1-1). This 13 document does not constitute a complaint, and Plaintiff neither paid the $405 filing fee 14 nor filed an application to proceed in forma pauperis. (See ECF No. 1). Plaintiff filed at 15 least two other actions that appear to concern the same or similar events. See Vanness 16 v. Monroe Cnty. Sheriff’s Office, Case No. 3:25-cv-00074-ART-CSD (D. Nev. filed Feb. 17 7, 2025); and Vanness v. 15CF67AD, Case No. 3:25-cv-00075-CLB (D. Nev. filed Feb. 18 7, 2025). This Court will give Plaintiff an opportunity to file a complaint and address the 19 matter of the filing fee. 20 II. DISCUSSION 21 A. Plaintiff must file his case in the proper venue. 22 Plaintiff sent his initiating document from a facility operated by the Monroe County 23 Sheriff’s Office in Key West, Florida. This document mentions events that allegedly 24 happened to Plaintiff in Monroe County. There is no Monroe County in Nevada. To the 25 extent Plaintiff is attempting to bring claims about his arrest, criminal case, or conditions 26 of his detention or incarceration in Monroe County, Florida, he is advised that the District 27 1 of Nevada is not the appropriate venue for his claims. 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b) instructs that 2 a plaintiff may bring an action in: 3 (1) a judicial district in which any defendant resides, if all 4 defendants are residents of the State in which the district is located; (2) a judicial district in which a substantial part of the 5 events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or a substantial part of property that is the subject of the action is 6 situated; or (3) if there is no district in which an action may otherwise be brought as provided in this section, any judicial 7 district in which any defendant is subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction with respect to such action. 8 9 And if a case has been filed in the wrong district or division, the district court in which the 10 case has been incorrectly filed “shall dismiss” it “or, if it be in the interest of justice, transfer 11 such case to any district or division in which it could have been brought.” 28 U.S.C. 12 § 1406(a). 13 B. Plaintiff must file a signed properly formatted complaint. 14 If Plaintiff wants to proceed with this action, he must submit a signed, properly 15 formatted complaint on this Court’s approved form. Plaintiff is advised that “[a] civil action 16 is commenced by filing a complaint with the court.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 3. A complaint must 17 contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the [plaintiff] is entitled to 18 relief” and “a demand for the relief sought, which may include relief in the alternative or 19 different types of relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8. “A party must state its claims or defenses in 20 numbered paragraphs, each limited as far as practicable to a single set of circumstances.” 21 Fed. R. Civ. P. 10(b). And “each claim founded on a separate transaction or 22 occurrence … must be stated in a separate count.” Id. 23 “A civil-rights complaint filed by a person who is not represented by an attorney 24 must be submitted on the form provided by this court or must be legible and contain 25 substantially all the information called for by the court’s form.” Nev. LSR 2-1. And the 26 complaint must be signed personally by the unrepresented party. Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(a). 27 1 Moreover, “[p]laintiffs generally have ‘no right to maintain two separate actions 2 involving the same subject matter at the same time in the same court and against the 3 same defendant.’” Adams v. Cal. Dept. of Health Servs., 487 F.3d 684, 688 (9th Cir. 4 2007), overruled on other grounds by Taylor v. Sturgell, 553 U.S. 880 (2008), (quoting 5 Walton v. Eaton Corp., 563 F.2d 66, 70 (3d Cir. 1977)). And duplicative litigation by a 6 litigant who is proceeding under in forma pauperis status can be dismissed as malicious 7 and thus constitute a strike under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1915. See 8 Cato v. United States, 70 F.3d 1103, 1105 n.2 (9th Cir. 1995). 9 C. Plaintiff must address the matter of the filing fee. 10 If Plaintiff wants to proceed with this action, he must address the matter of the filing 11 fee. The fee for filing a civil-rights action is $405, which includes the $350 filing fee and 12 the $55 administrative fee. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(b). “Any person who is unable to prepay 13 the fees in a civil case may apply to the court for leave to proceed in forma pauperis.” 14 Nev. LSR 1-1. For an inmate to apply for in forma pauperis status, the inmate must submit 15 all three of the following documents to the Court: (1) a completed Application to 16 Proceed in Forma Pauperis for Inmate, which is pages 1–3 of the Court’s approved 17 form, that is properly signed by the inmate twice on page 3; (2) a completed Financial 18 Certificate, which is page 4 of the Court’s approved form, that is properly signed by both 19 the inmate and a prison or jail official; and (3) a copy of the inmate’s prison or jail trust 20 fund account statement for the previous six-month period. See 28 U.S.C. 21 § 1915(a)(1), (2); Nev. LSR 1-2. In forma pauperis status does not relieve an inmate of 22 his or her obligation to pay the filing fee, it just means that the inmate can pay the fee in 23 installments. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b). 24 III. CONCLUSION 25 It is therefore ordered that Plaintiff has until March 12, 2025, to submit a signed 26 legible complaint on this Court’s approved form. 27 1 It is further ordered that Plaintiff has until March 12, 2025, to either pay the full $405 filing fee or file (1) a completed application to proceed in forma pauperis with the 3 inmate’s two signatures on page 3, (2) a completed financial certificate that is signed both by the inmate and the prison or jail official, and (3) a copy of the inmate’s trust fund account statement for the previous six-month period. 6 Plaintiff is cautioned that this action will be subject to dismissal without prejudice if 7 | he fails to timely comply with this order. 8 The Clerk of the Court is directed to send Plaintiff Craig Alan Vanness the approved form for filing a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint with instructions and the approved 10 | form application to proceed in forma pauperis for an inmate with instructions. 11 DATED: February 10, 2025 » 12 13 UNITED STATES\MAGISTRATE JUDGE 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27