Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 ESSENCE OF AMERICA, Case No.: 3:26-cv-3019-CAB-SBC 11 Plaintiff, ORDER: 12 v. (1) DISMISSING COMPLAINT WITHOUT PREJUDICE; and 13 UNITED STATES SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, et al., 14 (2) DENYING AS MOOT MOTION Defendants. TO PROCEED IN FORMA 15 PAUPERIS [Doc. No. 2.] 16 17 Before the Court is Plaintiff Essence of America’s complaint related to small 18 business loans. [Doc. No. 1 (“Complaint”).] Plaintiff alleges it never received the small 19 business loans but has nonetheless been subject to collection actions regarding the loans. 20 [Id. at 5–6.] Essence of America, a nonprofit organization, is the sole named plaintiff, but 21 the Complaint was filed pro se. Only individuals can proceed pro se in federal court; other 22 entities must retain licensed counsel. In re Am. W. Airlines, 40 F.3d 1058, 1059 (9th Cir. 23 1994) (“Corporations and other unincorporated associations must appear in court through 24 an attorney.”); see also Rowland v. Cal. Men’s Colony, Unit II Men’s Advisory Council, 25 506 U.S. 194, 201–03 (1993) (reasoning that in passing statute related to proceeding in 26 forma pauperis (“IFP”), “Congress was thinking in terms of ‘persons’ who could petition 27 courts themselves and appear pro se, that is, of natural persons only). Given that no 28 licensed counsel appears for Essence of America, the Court DISMISSES the Complaint 1 || without prejudice and also DENIES AS MOOT the motion to proceed in forma □□□□□□□□□ 2 ||[Doc. No. 2.] 3 IT IS SO ORDERED. 4 ||Dated: June 22, 2026 (GB 5 Hon. Cathy Ann Bencivengo 6 United States District Judge 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 2 26 ||! The Court also notes at least two issues with the IFP motion. [Doc. No. 2.] First, it appears to list the financial information for an unnamed individual and not Essence of America. [See id.] Second, it 27 || indicates that this individual expects major changes to their monthly income or expenses during the next 8 but provides no additional description of those expected changes as required by the form. [/d.