Court Opinion

ID: 9578065
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:41:05.938796+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:22:30.895093
License: Public Domain

MESCHKE, Justice,
concurring specially.
I concur in the result, but my reasons differ.
The filing fee for a civil case in district court is fifteen dollars. N.D.C.C. § 11-17-04(1). Patten, while incarcerated at the North Dakota State Penitentiary, sought to file a complaint pro se. He filed a “Petition for Leave to Proceed in Forma Pauper-is,” seeking to avoid paying the filing fee pursuant to § 27-01-07, N.D.C.C. The accompanying sworn “Declaration in Support of Motion for Leave to Proceed in Forma Pauperis” and an “Affidavit of Poverty,” showed that he earned $1.65 per day in prison and had received $207 in cash gifts from relatives over the year prior to his filing. The district court returned his documents with only the following letter:
“Your request to have the filing fees waived in this case are hereby denied. Your papers are herewith returned to you.” 1
If, as the majority opinion assumes, this request for waiver of the filing fee was denied because of the character of the accompanying complaint or because it was simply another one of many filed in the same district by a distressingly litigious type, I would view the denial as arbitrary and as an abuse of discretion. The exercise of judicial discretion is not a matter of grace, but should be consistent with sound legal principles fairly applied to the circumstances. Chapman v. Dorsey, 230 Minn. 279, 41 N.W.2d 438 (1950); 20 Am.Jur.2d, Courts, § 69, p. 434.
*109A complaint can be dismissed under our rules if it fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; Rule 12(b)(5), N.D.R. Civ.P. The statute on waiver of the filing fee does not express a different standard for scrutiny of the merits of a complaint prior to public filing, and no different standard of scrutiny for pre-filing consideration should be implied. There are sufficient tools in our rules to deal with vexatious, repetitious or inanely expressed complaints, after public filing; see Rules 11, 12(c) and (f), and 56, N.D.R.Civ.P. Procedural regularity calls for application of the standards of measuring the adequacy of a pleading after a case is publicly filed, not before.2
Nor, in my view, can a forma pauperis petition be rejected simply for multiplicity of pro se suits. The familiar fable about the boy who cried “wolf” too often should not become a guiding principle of law, even if it is a human truism. Even the most irrational or irritating litigant may occasionally have a just cause.
Rather, the exercise of discretion when considering waiver of filing fees under the statute should focus on the circumstances of indigency. That is what the statute refers us to.
In this case, it is apparent that the “affidavit of poverty,” which relates the pertinent information concerning indigency, did not sufficiently demonstrate grounds to waive the filing fee. Patten earns $1.65 a day at the prison. He got $207 from relatives in the last year. He did not show what he is spending those amounts for. Since his basic necessities are provided for in prison, it is not unreasonable to expect Patten to use those resources, which are certainly sufficient for a fifteen dollar filing fee, to invoke judicial process on his behalf. No injustice is done by requiring such an individual to choose between incidentals for himself and the filing fee to initiate his civil cause.
Thus, I concur that the district court did not abuse its discretion. There was reason evident from the affidavit relating the pertinent information regarding indigency to deny waiver of the filing fee.

. Our analysis in this case, as in others recently, is made more difficult because the district judge did not express any reason why he exercised his discretion to deny waiver. While not presently required by our procedural rules, (except for temporary injunctions and for orders for entry of judgment, Rule 52(a), N.D.R.Civ.P.,) there is considerable need in our judicial system for explaining the reasons for a court’s action.
When a trial court enters an order on any matter before it, responsible exercise of judicial power suggests a need for explanation of the court’s reasons. Citizens involved in court matters should know and understand, to the greatest extent possible, the reasons for what is happening to them. The public, as well as the appellate courts, should have some way to evaluate actions of a trial court. Perhaps justice should be "blind,” in the sense of impartiality, but surely it should not be administered in silence or secrecy, in the sense of being done without apparent reason.
Neither pages nor paragraphs are necessary, but at least a phrase, reference, or sentence would help. The time may come when amendment to our rules should be considered to specifically require brief stated reasons for any judicial order. For now, we simply encourage the trial courts to give a succinct reason for each of their rulings.

. There may be occasions when the character of the complaint will be a valid reason for granting a waiver. For example, when the pertinent information regarding indigency presents a close case, but the proposed complaint involves fundamental or constitutional rights, waiver of the filing fee would no doubt be within the bounds of discretion. We are not called upon to address such a situation in this appeal.