Jackson v. RJ Donovan

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 TYIAVORY JACKSON, Case No.: 3:23-CV-01826-RBM-AHG CDCR No. V-84091, 11 ORDER DISMISSING CIVIL Plaintiff, 12 ACTION WITHOUT PREJUDICE vs. FOR FAILING TO PAY 13 FILING FEE REQUIRED 14 BY 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) AND/OR R.J. DONOVAN, FAILING TO MOVE TO PROCEED 15 Defendants. IN FORMA PAUPERIS 16 PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a) 17 19 Plaintiff Tyiavory Jackson (“Plaintiff” or “Jackson”), proceeding pro se and 20 currently housed at R.J. Donovan State Prison (“RJD”) in San Diego, California, has filed 21 this civil action. (Doc. 1.) 22 FAILURE TO PAY FILING FEE OR REQUEST 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 26 27 28 1 $402. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). An action may proceed despite a failure to pay the entire 2 fee only if the plaintiff is granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to 3 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007); 4 Rodriguez v. Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, if the plaintiff is a 5 prisoner, and even if he is granted leave to proceed IFP, he remains obligated to pay the 6 entire filing fee in “increments,” see Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 7 2015), regardless of whether his case is ultimately dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) 8 & (2); Taylor v. Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002). 9 Jackson has not paid the $402 in filing and administrative fees required to commence 10 a civil action in federal court and has not requested leave to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 11 U.S.C. § 1915(a). Therefore, his case cannot yet proceed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a); 12 Andrews, 493 F.3d at 1051. 13 CONCLUSION 14 Accordingly, the Court (1) DISMISSES this civil action without prejudice based on 15 Plaintiff’s failure to pay the $402 civil filing and administrative fee or submit a Motion to 16 Proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) and § 1915(a) and (2) GRANTS Plaintiff 17 forty-five (45) days leave from the date this Order is filed to re-open the case by either (a) 18 paying the entire $402 civil filing and administrative fee in full or (b) completing and filing 19 a Motion to Proceed IFP, which requires a certified copy of his trust account statement for 20 the 6-month period preceding the filing of his Complaint. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2). 21 In light of Jackson’s incarceration, the Court further DIRECTS the Clerk of the 22 Court to provide him with its approved form “Motion and Declaration in Support of Motion 23 to Proceed In Forma Pauperis.” If Jackson fails to either prepay the $402 civil filing fee 24 25 26 1 In addition to the $350 statutory fee, civil litigants must pay an additional administrative 27 fee of $52. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) (Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2020)). The additional $52 administrative fee does 28 1 || or complete and file the enclosed Motion to Proceed IFP with the Clerk within 45 days, his 2 will remain dismissed without prejudice pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) and without 3 || further Order of the Court. 4 5 IT IS SO ORDERED. 6 7 || Dated: October 12, 2023 9 United States District Judge 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3