Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MONA S. MURILLO, Case No.: 3:26-cv-2359-AJB-AHG 12 Plaintiff, ORDER: 13 vs. (1) DENYING MOTION TO PAY 14 E. HERALDEZ, J. LANKFORD, J. FILING FEE IN INSTALLMENTS BONILLA, R. ACEVEDO, J. DAVIES, 15 (Doc. No. 3); W. HACKENBERG, CHAUDRY, R.

16 OCHOA, HERNANDEZ, J. PADILLA, A. (2) DENYING MOTION TO REECE, K. COLIS, C. ORTIZ, C. 17 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS XIONG, N. HENG, S. GARCIA, R. (Doc. No. 4); AND 18 LOPEZ, A. DELGADO, D.

MCCLANAHAM, P. BRACOMONTE, K. 19 (3) DISMISSING CIVIL ACTION CONTRELL, A. HENDERSON, S. FOR FAILURE TO PAY FILING 20 COSSAVELLA, K. WONG, M. LEWIS, FEES REQUIRED BY E. AYRAN, R. BROOMFIELD, J. 21 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) BRICK, J. WILLIAMS, VIA PATH 22 TECH., AMERICAN SECURITIES EQUITY OWNER, J. WILLIAMS, DOES 23 1–20, 24 Defendants. 25 26 On April 13, 2026, Plaintiff Mona S. Murillo, currently incarcerated at R.J. Donovan 27 Correctional Facility (“RJD”) and proceeding pro se, filed a civil rights complaint pursuant 28 to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (See Doc. No. 1.) On April 29, 2026, Plaintiff filed a “Motion for 1 Filing Fee Payment Schedule.” (Doc. No. 3.) Plaintiff then filed a Motion to Proceed In 2 Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) on June 24, 2026. (Doc. No. 4.) As discussed below, the motion 3 for fee payment schedule is denied, the IFP motion is denied, and the action is dismissed 4 without prejudice. 5 I. MOTION FOR FILING FEE PAYMENT SCHEDULE 6 All parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 7 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 8 $405. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). The action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 9 prepay the entire fee only if she is granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) 10 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 11 2007) (“Cervantes”). However, a prisoner who is granted leave to proceed IFP remains 12 obligated to pay the entire fee in “increments” or “installments,” Bruce v. Samuels, 577 13 U.S. 82, 84 (2016), and regardless of whether her action is ultimately dismissed. See 28 14 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 15 Here, when Plaintiff initiated this action, she did not pay the filing fee required to 16 commence a civil action, nor did she file a IFP Motion pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a) at 17 that time. Instead, Plaintiff filed a “Motion for Filing Fee Payment Schedule” in which she 18 asks the Court to accept payment of the of the $405 civil filing fee “in 4 payments” and for 19 the Court to grant a “fee waiver [for] U.S. Marshal service.” (Doc. No. 3 at 1.) Plaintiff 20 explicitly stated in her Motion that she “d[id] not seek in forma pauperis status.” (Id. at 2.) 21 Rather, she sought permission to pay the filing fee in installments without proceeding IFP. 22 (Id.) But this is not permitted. A plaintiff must either pay the full $405 filing fee “upfront,” 23 Bruce, 577 U.S. at 86, or properly move to proceed IFP. Plaintiff’s Motion for Filing Fee 24 Payment Schedule is therefore denied. 25 II. MOTION TO PROCEED IFP 26 On June 24, 2026, nearly two months after filing the Motion for Filing Fee Payment 27 Schedule discussed above, Plaintiff submitted an IFP Motion. (See Doc. No. 4.) Section 28 1915(a)(2) requires prisoners seeking leave to proceed IFP to submit a “certified copy of 1 ||the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for . . . the 6-month period 2 ||immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); Andrews v. 3 || King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 (9th Cir. 2005). From the certified trust account statement, the 4 || Court assesses an initial payment of 20% of (a) the average monthly deposits in the account 5 || for the past six months, or (b) the average monthly balance in the account for the past six 6 months, whichever is greater, unless the prisoner has no assets. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1); 7 1128 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(4). 8 Officials at RJD have submitted a certified copy of Plaintiffs trust account 9 statement. (Doc. No. 2.) See also 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); S.D. Cal. CivLR 3.2. This 10 statement shows that for the six months immediately preceding filing of the Complaint, 11 || Plaintiff carried an average monthly balance of $5,774.11 and average monthly deposits of 12 |/$15.12. (Doc. No. 2 at 4.) The available balance in Plaintiff's account as of April 21, 226 13 || was $2,444.55. Ud. at 2, 4.) As such, Plaintiff has not shown the indigence required to 14 proceed IFP. Because Plaintiff is able to pay the $405 filing fee in total, the Motion to 15 || Proceed IFP is denied. 16 If. CONCLUSION AND ORDER 17 Accordingly, the Court: 18 (1) DENIES Plaintiff's Motion for Filing Fee Payment Schedule (Doc. No. 3). 19 (2) DENIES Plaintiff's IFP Motion (Doc. No. 4). 20 (3) DISMISSES this action without prejudice based on Plaintiffs failure to pay 21 ||the $405 civil filing and administrative fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). 22 (4) GRANTS Plaintiff thirty (30) days leave from the date this Order is “Filed” 23 ||in which to have her case reopened by either paying the entire $405 civil filing fee. 24 IT IS SO ORDERED. 25 ||Dated: June 29, 2026 © g 26 Hon. Anthony J. attaglia 27 United States District Judge 28 3 oe □□