Summary
The United States District Court for the Southern District of California dismissed Archie Tyrell Armstrong’s § 1983 civil action without prejudice for failure to pay the filing and administrative fees or properly move to proceed in forma pauperis. The court granted 45 days to reopen the case by paying the fees or submitting a compliant IFP motion and declaration.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the action could proceed when plaintiff had not paid the filing fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a).
- Whether the action could proceed when plaintiff had not filed a properly supported motion and affidavit to proceed in forma pauperis under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a).
Holdings
- A prisoner plaintiff may proceed without prepaying the filing fee only after obtaining leave to proceed in forma pauperis under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a), which requires the plaintiff's own compliant affidavit and the required certified trust-account information.
- Dismissal without prejudice was appropriate because plaintiff failed both to pay the required filing fee and to file a properly supported motion to proceed in forma pauperis.
Key quotations
“Therefore, unless Plaintiff either pays the filing fee “upfront,” Bruce, 577 U.S. at 86, or files a properly supported Motion to Proceed IFP that includes an affidavit that meets the requirements set out in 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1), his case cannot proceed.” (1)
“DISMISSES this action without prejudice based on Plaintiff’s failure to pay the $405 civil filing and administrative fee required by 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a), and his failure to properly move to proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)” (2)
Factual background
Archie Tyrell Armstrong, incarcerated at Centinela State Prison, filed a pro se § 1983 complaint against unidentified state and local officials and entities. The complaint alleged claims arising from his conviction in San Diego Superior Court Case No. SCD97961. Armstrong did not pay the required filing fee or submit his own properly supported motion and affidavit to proceed in forma pauperis; prison officials submitted account materials on his behalf, but those materials were not accompanied by the required motion and affidavit.
Procedural history
Armstrong filed a § 1983 complaint concerning an allegedly wrongful state-court conviction. He neither prepaid the $405 filing and administrative fee nor filed the affidavit and certified trust-account materials required for IFP status. The court dismissed without prejudice, granted forty-five days to cure, and directed the Clerk to provide the approved IFP form.