Lance Williams v. N. Vera, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California grants Lance Williams’s application to proceed in forma pauperis in a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The court finds that Williams demonstrated an inability to pay the filing fee and directs that the complaint be screened pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e).

Holdings

1. Because Plaintiff was not in custody when he commenced the action and did not indicate that he was incarcerated, the prisoner-specific filing-fee provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b) and the three-strikes bar in § 1915(c) did not apply.
2. Plaintiff demonstrated that he was unable to pay the filing fee or give security therefor, and his application to proceed in forma pauperis was properly granted.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Plaintiff demonstrated under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1) that he was unable to pay the filing fee or give security therefor.
2. Whether the Prison Litigation Reform Act's prisoner filing-fee and three-strikes provisions applied to Plaintiff.

Disposition

other