Vaught IV v. Phillips

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedSeptember 16, 2020
Docket3:20-cv-01728
StatusUnknown

This text of Vaught IV v. Phillips (Vaught IV v. Phillips) 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
Vaught IV v. Phillips, (S.D. Cal. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ELBERT LEE VAUGHT, IV, Case No.: 3:20-cv-01728-DMS-MSB CDCR #H-56089, 12 ORDER: Plaintiff, 13 v. 1) GRANTING MOTION TO 14 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS B.D. PHILLIPS, Associate Warden; S. 15 LIVELO, Assigned Case Records 2) DENYING MOTION TO 16 Analyst; RALPH DIAZ, Secretary of APPOINT COUNSEL; CDCR; M. POLLARD, Warden, 17 Defendants. 3) DISMISSING CIVIL ACTION 18 SUA SPONTE FOR FAILING TO 19 STATE A CLAIM; and

20 4) DENYING MOTION FOR 21 PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

22 [ECF Nos. 2, 4, 5] 23 24 Elbert Lee Vaught IV (“Plaintiff”), a state inmate currently incarcerated at the 25 Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (“RJD”) located in San Diego, California and 26 proceeding pro se, has filed a civil rights complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See 27 Compl., ECF No. 1. 28 / / / 1 Plaintiff did not pay the filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) to commence a 2 civil action when he filed his Complaint; instead, he has filed a certified copy of his 3 inmate trust account statement which the Court liberally construes as a Motion to Proceed 4 In Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). (ECF No. 5.) In addition, 5 Plaintiff has filed a Motion to Appoint Counsel, along with a Motion for Preliminary 6 Injunction. (ECF Nos. 2, 4.) 7 I. Motion to Proceed IFP 8 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 9 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 10 $400.1 See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 11 prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 12 § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez v. 13 Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, a prisoner who is granted leave to 14 proceed IFP remains obligated to pay the entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” 15 Bruce v. Samuels, __ U.S. __, 136 S. Ct. 627, 629 (2016); Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 16 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 2015), and regardless of whether his action is ultimately dismissed. 17 See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 18 2002). 19 Section 1915(a)(2) requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a 20 “certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for ... the 21 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. 22 § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified 23 trust account statement, the Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average 24 monthly deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly 25

26 1 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative fee of $50. See 27 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. June 1, 2016). The additional $50 administrative fee does not apply to persons granted leave to proceed 28 1 balance in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner 2 has no assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). The institution having 3 custody of the prisoner then collects subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the 4 preceding month’s income, in any month in which his account exceeds $10, and forwards 5 those payments to the Court until the entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2); 6 Bruce, 136 S. Ct. at 629. 7 In support of his IFP Motion, Plaintiff has submitted a prison certificate authorized 8 by an RJD accounting officer. See ECF No. 5 at 1; 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); S.D. CAL. 9 CIVLR 3.2; Andrews, 398 F.3d at 1119. This certificate attests that Plaintiff carried an 10 average monthly balance of $48.10 and had average monthly deposits of $63.33 to his 11 account over the 6-month period immediately preceding the filing of his Motion. Thus, 12 the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP (ECF No. 5) and assesses his 13 initial partial filing fee to be $12.67 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). 14 However, the Court will direct the Secretary of the CDCR, or his designee, to 15 collect this initial fee only if sufficient funds are available in Plaintiff’s account at the 16 time this Order is executed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) (providing that “[i]n no event 17 shall a prisoner be prohibited from bringing a civil action or appealing a civil action or 18 criminal judgment for the reason that the prisoner has no assets and no means by which to 19 pay the initial partial filing fee.”); Bruce, 136 S. Ct. at 630; Taylor, 281 F.3d at 850 20 (finding that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4) acts as a “safety-valve” preventing dismissal of a 21 prisoner’s IFP case based solely on a “failure to pay ... due to the lack of funds available 22 to him when payment is ordered.”). The remaining balance of the $350 total fee owed in 23 this case must be collected by the agency having custody of the prisoner and forwarded to 24 the Clerk of the Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). 25 II. Motion to Appoint Counsel 26 Plaintiff also seeks the appointment of counsel because he is unable to afford a 27 lawyer and claims his imprisonment will limit his ability to litigate. (Pl.’s Mot., ECF No. 28 2 at 2.) 1 However, there is no constitutional right to counsel in a civil case. Lassiter v. Dept. 2 of Social Servs., 452 U.S. 18, 25 (1981); Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir. 3 2009). And while 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1) grants the district court limited discretion to 4 “request” that an attorney represent an indigent civil litigant, Agyeman v. Corr. Corp. of 5 America, 390 F.3d 1101, 1103 (9th Cir. 2004), this discretion may be exercised only 6 under “exceptional circumstances.” Id.; see also Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 7 (9th Cir. 1991).

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Vaught IV v. Phillips, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vaught-iv-v-phillips-casd-2020.