Willing v. Fed Judge (RFB)

Opinion

3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 8 *** Nicholas James Willing, 9 Case No. 2:23-cv-00857-GMN-VCF 10 Plaintiff, vs. 11 ORDER FBI Special Agent, et al., 12 Defendants. 13 A (EP FP CLI C NA OT . I 1O )N A T NO D P CR OO MC PE LE AD I NIN T F (EO CRM F A N P OA . U 1P -1E )R IS

16 Pro se plaintiff Nicholas James Willing filed an application to proceed in forma pauperis and a 17 proposed complaint ECF Nos. 1 and 1-1. I grant his IFP application. ECF No. 2. Since plaintiff is 18 incarcerated, I order plaintiff must pay the initial partial filing fee of $35.08 toward the full $350 filing 19 fee. 20 I. Plaintiff’s IFP Application 21 Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1), a plaintiff may bring a civil action "without prepayment of fees or 22 security thereof" if the plaintiff submits a financial affidavit that demonstrates the plaintiff "is unable to 23 pay such fees or give security therefor." If the plaintiff is a "prisoner" as defined by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(h), 24 as amended by the Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA"), he must pay the entire fee in installments, 25 regardless of whether his action is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. 1 Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 2 Under the PLRA, a prisoner seeking leave to proceed IFP must submit a "certified copy of the 3 4 trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for the prisoner for the six-month period 5 immediately preceding the filing of the complaint." 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 6 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified trust account statement, the Court must assess an initial 7 payment of 20% of (a) the average monthly deposits in the account for the past six months, or (b) the 8 average monthly balance in the account for the past six months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner 9 has no assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). The institution having custody of the 10 prisoner must collect subsequent payments, assessed at 20% of the preceding month's income, in any 11 month in which the prisoner's account exceeds $10, and forward those payments to the Court until the 12 entire filing fee is paid. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). Even if this action is dismissed, the prisoner must 13 still pay the full filing fee pursuant to § 1915(b) and the monthly payments from his inmate account will 14 continue until the balance is paid. 15 Plaintiff is currently incarcerated. ECF No. 1. Plaintiff filed a declaration1 and a certified copy of 16 17 the trust fund account statement per 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2). Plaintiff's average monthly balance is 18 $175.40 and his average monthly deposits are $135.22. The institution calculated that his partial filing 19 fee should be $35.08. I grant plaintiff's IFP application and I order plaintiff to pay the initial partial 20 filing fee of $35.08. The entire $350 filing fee will remain due from plaintiff, and the institution where 21

22 1 The affidavit has multiple yellow highlights for the date and signature line, which indicates that someone may have helped plaintiff with the application. This is a Senate Bill 182 case. Another plaintiff 23 recently brought a Senate Bill 182 case, which is currently before me, and that plaintiff’s IFP application 24 has the same pattern of yellow highlights for the date and signature line. See Wrobel v. Hardesty et al, 2:23-cv-00969-CDS-VCF, ECF No. 5. This appears to indicate that this is a concerted effort by multiple 25 parties. I will address this issue if this case proceeds. 2 plaintiff is incarcerated will collect money toward the payment of the full filing fee when plaintiff's 1 institutional account has a sufficient balance, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1915. The entire $350 filing fee 2 will remain due and payable and will be collected from plaintiff's institutional account regardless of the 3 4 outcome of this action. 5 Upon receipt of the initial partial filing fee, the court will screen plaintiff's complaint as required 6 by 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) and 1915A(a); Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1129 (9th Cir. 2000) (en 7 banc) (noting that § 1915(e)'s screening requirement "applies to all in forma pauperis complaints"); see 8 also Plaintiff v. Lever, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53688 at 5. If the complaint states a valid claim for relief, 9 the court will direct the Clerk of the Court to issue summons to the defendant(s) and instruct the United 10 States Marshal Service to serve the summons and complaint. Cf. Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(c)(3); LSR 1-3(c) 11 (requiring that a prisoner's initial partial filing fee be paid "before the Court will order service of 12 process"). 13 ACCORDINGLY, 14 I ORDER that Willing’s application to proceed in forma pauperis (ECF Nos. 1) is GRANTED. 15 I FURTHER ORDER that plaintiff has until Thursday, August 10, 2023 pay an initial partial 16 17 filing fee in the amount of $35.08 (toward the full $350 filing fee). 18 I FURTHER ORDER that the Clerk of the Court is directed NOT to issue summons. I will issue 19 a screening order on the complaint after Willing pays the initial filing fee of $35.08 and I will address 20 the issuance of summons at that time, if applicable. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2). 21 I FURTHER ORDER that the Clerk of the Court MAIL plaintiff two copies of this Order. 22 Plaintiff must make the necessary arrangements to have one copy of this Order attached to a check in the 23 amount of the initial partial filing fee. 24 25 3 I FURTHER ORDER that pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915, as amended by the Prison Litigation 1 Reform Act, beginning the month following plaintiff's payment of the initial partial filing fee, the 2 Southern Desert Correctional Center must forward payments from the account of Nicholas James 3 4 Willing (33387) to the Clerk of the United States District Court, District of Nevada, 20% of the 5 preceding month's deposits (in months that the account exceeds $10.00) until the full $350 filing fee has 6 been paid for this action. If this action is dismissed, the full filing fee must still be paid pursuant to 28 7 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). 8 I FURTHER ORDER that if plaintiff is transferred, the Accounting Supervisor at Southern 9 Desert Correctional Center is directed to send a copy of this Order to the new place of incarceration and 10 indicate the amount that plaintiff has paid towards his filing fee so that funds may continue to be 11 deducted from his account. 12 I FURTHER ORDER that the Clerk of the Court must send a copy of this Order to the Finance 13 Division of the Clerk's Office and to the Southern Desert Correctional Center Accounting Supervisor, 14 20825 Cold Creek Road Indian Springs, NV 89070. 15 NOTICE 16 17 Pursuant to Local Rules IB 3-1 and IB 3-2, a party may object to orders and reports and 18 recommendations issued by the magistrate judge. Objections must be in writing and filed with the Clerk 19 of the Court within fourteen days. LR IB 3-1, 3-2. The Supreme Court has held that the courts of appeal 20 may determine that an appeal has been waived due to the failure to file objections within the specified 21 time. Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S. 140, 142 (1985). 22 This circuit has also held that (1) failure to file objections within the specified time and (2) 23 failure to properly address and brief the objectionable issues waives the right to appeal the District 24 Court's order and/or appeal factual issues from the order of the District Court. Martinez v. Ylst, 951 F.2d 25 4 1153, 1157 (th Cir. 1991); Britt v. Simi Valley United Sch. Dist., 708 F.2d 452, 454 (9th Cir. 1983).

5 Pursuant to LR JA 3-1, the plaintiff must immediately file written notification with the court of any 3 || change of address. The notification must include proof of service upon each opposing party’s attorney, 4 || or upon the opposing party if the party is unrepresented by counsel. Failure to comply with this rule may 5 in dismissal of the action. 6 IT IS SO ORDERED. 7 DATED this 11th day of July 2023. et _ 8 La ’ 59 Sete shagge fA oe 9 CAM FERENBACH UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25