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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

SOUTHERN DIVISION

LEONARR MOORE,

Plaintiff,

vs. CASE NO. 2:08-CV-15168

HONORABLE GERALD E. ROSEN

CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

NATHAN VANTIFFLIN, et. al.

Defendants,

_________________________________/

OPINION AND ORDER OF SUMMARY DISMISSAL

Plaintiff is an inmate currently confined at the at the Saginaw County Jail in

Saginaw, Michigan. On December 18, 2008, Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen

signed an order of deficiency, which required plaintiff to provide an application to

proceed without prepayment of fees and costs, a signed certification of his prison trust

account from an authorized jail official and a current computerized trust fund account

showing the history of the financial transactions in plaintiff’s institutional trust fund

account for the past six months. Alternatively, the order allowed plaintiff to pay the

three hundred and fifty ($ 350.00) dollar filing fee in full. Plaintiff was given thirty days to

comply with the order. 

Plaintiff provided this Court with a copy of the application to proceed without

prepayment of fees at the time that he filed his complaint. However, the certification

section of the application to proceed without prepayment of fees was left blank and

unsigned by plaintiff’s custodian or designee. 

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On December 29, 2008, plaintiff submitted a current computerized trust fund

account to this Court. Plaintiff, however, failed to submit a signed certification regarding

his jail trust fund account with these documents. 

28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2) requires a prisoner who wishes to proceed without

prepayment of fees and costs in a civil complaint in federal court to file a certified copy

of the trust fund account statement for that prisoner for the six month period

immediately preceding the filing of the complaint or notice of appeal, obtained from the

appropriate official of each prison at which the prisoner is or was confined. See also

McGore v. Wrigglesworth, 114 F. 3d 601, 605 (6th Cir. 1997). 

If an inmate who does not pay the full filing fee fails to provide an affidavit of

indigency or a certified trust account statement, the district court must notify the prisoner

of the deficiency and the prisoner will then have thirty days from the date of the

deficiency order to correct the error or to pay the full filing fee. McGore v.

Wrigglesworth, 114 F. 3d at 605. If the inmate fails to comply with the district court's

directions, “[t]he district court must presume that the prisoner is not a pauper and

assess the inmate the full amount of fees.” Id. The district court must then order that

the case be dismissed for want of prosecution. Id. If the case is dismissed under these

circumstances, it is not to be reinstated to the district court's active docket despite the

subsequent payment of filing fees. Id. 

In the present case, plaintiff has failed to provide the Court with a signed

certification regarding trust fund account. An uncertified trust fund account statement,

or one that lacks a signature, is insufficient to satisfy the filing requirements for

permitting a prisoner to proceed in forma pauperis under § 1915(a)(2), nor would it cure

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the deficiency in this case. See Hart v. Jaukins, 99 Fed. Appx. 208, 209-10 (10th Cir.

2004). Plaintiff has therefore failed to correct the deficiency in this case. 

Accordingly, the Court DISMISSES the complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1)

and (b)(1) and (2) for failure to comply with the filing requirements of the Prison

Litigation Reform Act. Because the case is being dismissed under these

circumstances, the Court further ORDERS that it is not to be reinstated to the district

court's active docket despite the subsequent payment of filing fees. McGore, 114 F. 3d

at 605. 

s/Gerald E. Rosen 

Chief Judge, United States District Court

Dated: January 30, 2009

I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing document was served upon counsel of

record on January 30, 2009, by electronic and/or ordinary mail.

s/LaShawn R. Saulsberry 

Case Manager

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