Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-casd-3_18-cv-01267/USCOURTS-casd-3_18-cv-01267-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 550
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Civil Rights (U.S. defendant)
Cause of Action: 42:1983pr Prisoner Civil Rights

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

VINCENT BRYANT,

Plaintiff,

v.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY SHERIFF 

DEPT., et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 18-cv-01267-BAS-BGS

ORDER DISMISSING ACTION 

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

FOR FAILING TO PAY 

FILING FEE AND/OR FAILING TO 

MOVE TO PROCEED IN FORMA 

PAUPERIS 

On June 13, 2018, Plaintiff Vincent Bryant, a pretrial detainee at the San Diego 

Central Jail and proceeding pro se, filed a civil rights complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 

§ 1983. (See Compl., ECF No. 1.)

Plaintiff claims the San Diego Sheriff’s Department and several Sheriff’s 

Department officials violated his constitutional rights in May and June 2018 by refusing to 

provide him with grievance forms with which to request dietary accommodations during 

Ramadan and by later placing him in segregation without providing him a hearing. (See

Compl. at 2-3.) Plaintiff seeks nominal damages, to be “restored” to his original housing 

unit and to participate in a “properly mandated grievance program.” (Id. at 4.)

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I. Failure to Pay Filing Fee or Request IFP Status

All parties instituting any civil action, suit, or proceeding in a district court of the 

United States, except an application for writ of habeas corpus, must pay a filing fee of 

$400.00. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a). An action may proceed despite a plaintiff’s failure to 

prepay the entire fee only if he is granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”)

pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Andrews v. Cervantes, 493 F.3d 1047, 1051 (9th Cir. 

2007); Rodriguez v. Cook, 169 F.3d 1176, 1177 (9th Cir. 1999). However, if the Plaintiff 

is a prisoner at the time of filing, as Plaintiff is here, and even if he is granted leave to 

commence his suit IFP, he will remain obligated to pay the entire filing fee in “increments,” 

see Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1185 (9th Cir. 2015), and regardless of whether 

his case is dismissed for any other reason. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1), (2); Taylor v. 

Delatoore, 281 F.3d 844, 847 (9th Cir. 2002).

Plaintiff has not prepaid the $400.00 in filing and administrative fees required to 

commence this civil action, nor has he filed a properly supported Motion to Proceed IFP 

pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). Therefore, his case cannot yet proceed. See 28 U.S.C. 

§ 1914(a); Andrews, 493 F.3d at 1051.

II. CONCLUSION 

Accordingly, the Court DISMISSES WITHOUT PREJUDICE this action sua 

sponte for failure to pay the $400.00 civil filing and administrative fee or to submit a 

Motion to Proceed IFP pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914(a) and 1915(a). Plaintiff may no 

later than August 30, 2018: (a) prepay the entire $400.00 civil filing and administrative 

fee in full; or (b) complete and file a Motion to Proceed IFP which includes a certified copy 

of his prison trust account statements for the six-month period preceding the filing of his 

Complaint. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2); S.D. Cal. CivLR 3.2(b).

The Court further DIRECTS the Clerk of the Court to provide Plaintiff with the 

Court’s approved form “Motion and Declaration in Support of Motion to Proceed In Forma 

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Pauperis.”1If Plaintiff fails to either prepay the $400.00 civil filing fee or fully complete 

and submit the enclosed Motion to Proceed IFP no later than August 30, 2018, this action 

will remain dismissed without prejudice based on his failure to satisfy 28 U.S.C. 

§ 1914(a)’s fee requirement and without further Order of the Court.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

DATED: July 16, 2018

 

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 Plaintiff is cautioned that if he chooses to proceed further by either prepaying the 

full $400.00 civil filing fee, or submitting a properly supported Motion to Proceed IFP, his 

Complaint will be reviewed before service and may be dismissed sua sponte pursuant to 

28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b) and/or 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B), regardless of whether he pays the 

full $400.00 filing fee at once, or is granted IFP status and is obligated to pay the full filing 

fee in installments. See Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) 

(noting that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e) “not only permits but requires” the court to sua sponte

dismiss an in forma pauperis complaint that is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim, 

or seeks damages from defendants who are immune); see also Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 

F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) (discussing similar screening required by 28 U.S.C. 

§ 1915A of all complaints filed by prisoners “seeking redress from a governmental entity 

or officer or employee of a governmental entity”). 

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