Court Opinion

ID: 2964646
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:28:49.041296+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:02:03.447310
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

                                [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
                                 ____________________

        No. 97-1058

                                ALFRED A. GALLANT, II,

                                Plaintiff, Appellant,

                                          v.

                              SGT. DAVID GEORGE, ET AL.,

                                Defendants, Appellees.

                                 ____________________

                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

                              FOR THE DISTRICT OF MAINE

                   [Hon. Steven J. McAuliffe, U.S. District Judge]
                                              ___________________

                                 ____________________

                                        Before

                                Torruella, Chief Judge,
                                           ___________
                           Campbell, Senior Circuit Judge,
                                     ____________________
                              and Boudin, Circuit Judge.
                                          _____________

                                 ____________________

            Alfred A. Gallant, Jr. on brief pro se.
            ______________________

                                 ____________________

                                    April 24, 1997
                                 ____________________

                 Per Curiam.   Plaintiff Alfred Gallant,  a Maine inmate,
                 __________

            filed a civil-rights action against thirteen prison officials

            in May 1996  complaining of an assortment  of alleged abuses.

            Accompanying his complaint was a request to proceed in  forma
                                                                _________

            pauperis.    On  September  10,  1996,  the  magistrate-judge
            ________

            imposed  an initial  partial filing  fee of  $28.00--a figure

            representing twenty percent of the average monthly balance in

            plaintiff's prison account for the six-month period preceding

            the filing of  his complaint.   See 28  U.S.C.    1915(b)(1).
                                            ___

            When plaintiff failed  to pay  such fee by  the September  30

            deadline, the  district court  dismissed  the action  without

            prejudice.  This ruling is now challenged on appeal. 

                 Plaintiff objects that  he lacked the  means to pay  the

            initial  filing fee.    The record  reveals  that during  the

            relevant period--in  May, in September,  and at all  times in

            between--the  balance in his prison account stood at zero.  A

            prisoner cannot be barred from  bringing a civil action  when

            he "has  no assets and no  means by which to  pay the initial

            partial filing fee."   28 U.S.C.   1915(b)(4); see also id.  
                                                           ________ ___

            1915(b)(1) (the  court "shall  assess and, when  funds exist,

            collect" an  initial fee); see,  e.g., Hampton v.  Hobbs, 106
                                       ___   ____  _______     _____

            F.3d 1281, 1284 (6th Cir. 1997).

                 But while plaintiff's failure  to pay the initial filing

            fee was thus excusable, his serious default in another regard

            cannot  be  excused.    Pursuant  to  the  magistrate-judge's

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            September 10 order, he  was directed to file  a consolidated,

            amended complaint by  September 30.  Plaintiff never  did so,

            and never explained his failure to do so.  Instead, he simply

            submitted  a  series of  frivolous  objections pertaining  to

            other aspects  of the magistrate-judge's order.   Under these

            circumstances, the action could  properly have been dismissed

            for  lack of  prosecution.    Particularly given  plaintiff's

            history  of abusive  litigation, we  think it  appropriate to

            affirm  the  dismissal  on  this  basis--with   the  judgment

            modified to  reflect a  dismissal with, rather  than without,
                                              ____               _______

            prejudice.   See, e.g., Hachikian  v. FDIC, 96  F.3d 502, 504
                         ___  ____  _________     ____

            (1st  Cir.   1996)  (appellate   court  may  affirm   on  any

            alternative ground made manifest by the record).

                 The judgment  is modified to provide  for dismissal with
                 ________________________________________________________

            prejudice rather than without prejudice.  As so modified, the
            _____________________________________________________________

            judgment is affirmed. 
            _____________________

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