Woodrow v. Kurtz
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Myron James Lorenz (author)
Analysis
Plaintiff James Woodrow moved for leave to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) in a civil action against John Kurtz and others. The court denied the motion without prejudice, finding that Plaintiff's savings and checking account balances demonstrated an ability to pay the filing fee, and ordered him to pay the fee or resubmit the motion by August 18, 2021.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) denied without prejudice.“The Court therefore DENIES his motion without prejudice.” | agree with court The court applied the statutory requirement that a plaintiff must demonstrate an inability to pay the filing fee. The order recites that the plaintiff has $4,500 in savings and $420 in checking, which exceeds the standard civil filing fee (typically $400). Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a), a plaintiff with assets sufficient to pay the fee is not entitled to IFP status. The court's conclusion that the plaintiff has not shown an inability to pay is supported by the financial facts recited in the order. |
The order itself: sound — The order correctly identifies the relevant statutes and applies the financial facts presented by the plaintiff to the legal standard. The plaintiff's liquid assets ($4,920 total) are sufficient to cover the filing fee, making the denial of IFP status legally sound. The order is concise but contains all necessary elements for the decision.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 JAMES WOODROW, Case No.: 3:21-cv-1236-L-KSC 10 Plaintiff, 11 v. ORDER ON MOTION FOR LEAVE 12 JOHN KURTZ, et al., TO PROCEED IN FORMA 13 Defendants. PAUPERIS (ECF 2) 14 15 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s motion for leave to proceed in forma 16 pauperis (“IFP”). For the reasons stated below, the Court DENIES the IFP motion. 17 Every party instituting a civil action, suit or proceeding in a district court of the 18 United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee. 28 19 U.S.C. §1914(a). An action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to prepay the entire 20 fee only if the plaintiff is granted leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). 21 See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007). 22 Plaintiff receives $1,064 per month from government programs. (ECF 2). He has 23 no other income. Id. His expenses each month are about $1,060. Id. But he has $4,500 in 24 a savings account and $420 in a checking account. Id. Given that, Plaintiff has not shown 25 he is unable to pay the civil filing fee. The Court therefore DENIES his motion without 26 prejudice. 27 /// 28 /// 1 Plaintiff has until August 18, 2021 to either pay the filing fee or resubmit his 2 ||motion showing why he is unable to pay it. Failure to comply with this Order will result 3 ||in a dismissal without prejudice. 4 IT IS SO ORDERED. 5 Dated: August 4, 2021 pee ep? 7 H . James Lorenz, 3 United States District Judge 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28