Bonilla v. Imperial County Superior Court

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 STEVEN WAYNE BONILLA, Case No.: 24-CV-980 JLS (VET) CDCR #J-48500, 12 ORDER DISMISSING CIVIL Plaintiff, 13 ACTION WITHOUT PREJUDICE vs. FOR FAILING TO PAY 14 FILING FEE REQUIRED 15 BY 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) AND FAILING IMPERIAL COUNTY SUPERIOR TO MOVE TO PROCEED IN 16 COURT, FORMA PAUPERIS 17 Defendant. PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a) 18 19 20 Plaintiff Steven Wayne Bonilla (“Plaintiff”) is a state prisoner proceeding pro se in 21 this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Compl., ECF No. 1. 22 I. Failure to Pay Filing Fee or Request In Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) Status 23 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 24 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 25 $405, consisting of a (1) $350 statutory fee and (2) an administrative fee of $55 that does 26 not apply to persons granted leave to proceed IFP. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial 27 Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2023)). 28 An action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to prepay the entire fee only if he is 1 granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 2 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); Rodriguez v. Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 3 1999). As Plaintiff is a prisoner, however, even if he is ultimately granted leave to 4 commence his suit IFP, he remains obligated to pay the entire filing fee in “increments.” 5 See Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 2015); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1), (2); 6 Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 7 Plaintiff has neither prepaid the $405 fee required to commence this civil action nor 8 submitted a Motion to Proceed IFP. Therefore, his case cannot yet proceed. See 28 U.S.C. 9 § 1914(a); Andrews, 493 F.3d at 1051. 10 II. Conclusion and Order 11 Accordingly, the Court: 12 (1) DISMISSES this civil action sua sponte without prejudice based on 13 Plaintiff’s failure to pay the $405 civil filing and administrative fee or to submit a Motion 14 to Proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) and § 1915(a); and 15 (2) GRANTS Plaintiff forty-five (45) days leave from the date this Order is filed 16 to: (a) prepay the entire $405 civil filing and administrative fee in full; or (b) complete and 17 file a Motion to Proceed IFP that includes a certified copy of his trust account statement 18 for the six-month period preceding the filing of his Complaint. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); 19 S.D. Cal. Civ. L.R. 3.2(b).1 20 The Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to provide Plaintiff with this Court’s 21 approved form “Motion and Declaration in Support of Motion to Proceed In Forma 22 23 24 1 The Court cautions Plaintiff that he chooses to proceed further under either option (a) or option (b), his 25 Complaint will be screened before service and may be dismissed sua sponte pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b) and/or 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). See Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) 26 (en banc) (noting that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e) “not only permits but requires” the court to sua sponte dismiss an IFP complaint that is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who 27 are immune); see also Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) (discussing similar screening required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915A of all complaints filed by prisoners “seeking redress from a 28 1 || Pauperis.” If Plaintiff fails to either prepay the $405 civil filing fee or complete and submit 2 enclosed Motion to Proceed IFP within 45 days, this action will be dismissed without 3 || prejudice based on his failure to satisfy 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a)’s fee requirement. 4 IT IS SO ORDERED. 5 ||Dated: June 10, 2024 psi L. Lo meeaitie- 6 on. Janis L. Sammartino United States District Judge 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3 □□