Summary
This United States District Court order addresses pro se plaintiff Danny Eldridge’s motions requesting copies of case documents, postage materials, and placement on the trial docket. The court grants in part the request for document copies, denies the request for free postage and supplies without prejudice based on established access-to-courts precedent, and sets a deadline for filing a second amended complaint. The motion for a trial setting is denied as premature pending review of the amended complaint under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) and 1915A.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether an indigent inmate is entitled to free paper, pens, and postage for filing and mailing legal documents.
- Whether the court must grant the plaintiff’s motion to receive copies of all case documents.
- Whether the plaintiff’s request for a trial docket setting should be granted.
Holdings
- The court affirmed Eldridge’s status as indigent and allowed him to proceed without prepayment of fees, but denied a request for free postage, paper, envelopes, and pens absent a showing that his access to the courts is presently impeded.
- The motion to supply copies of the court’s filings is granted in part and denied as moot in part; the clerk is directed to send specified documents to the plaintiff.
- The request for a trial setting is denied without prejudice because the court must first determine whether the second amended complaint survives mandatory review.
Key quotations
“[i]t is indisputable that indigent inmates must be provided at state expense with paper and pen to draft legal documents with notarial services to authenticate them, and with stamps to mail them.” (430 U.S. at 824-25)
“[t]he constitutional right to access the courts entitles indigent prisoners to some free stamps as noted in Bounds but not unlimited free postage . . . .” (751 F.2d at 1162)
Factual background
Danny Eldridge is a pre‑trial detainee in Perry County, Alabama, who lacks the means to purchase paper, envelopes, pens, and postage needed to pursue his civil action and related habeas petitions. He requested that the court provide copies of all filings and supply the necessary materials.
Procedural history
Plaintiff Danny Eldridge, a pre‑trial detainee, filed a civil action and subsequently moved for copies of the court's filings, for postage and supplies, and for a trial docket setting. The district court considered the motions and issued this order.