Tafoya v. City of Hanford ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 CHRISTOPHER TAFOYA, Case No. 1:20-cv-01707-NONE-SAB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER DISREGARDING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO PROCEED IN FORMA 13 v. PAUPERIS 14 CITY OF HANFORD, (ECF No. 4) 15 Defendant. 16 17 Christopher Tafoya (“Plaintiff”) is appearing pro se in this civil rights action pursuant to 18 42 U.S.C. § 1983. On November 23, 2020, Plaintiff filed a complaint in this action. However, 19 Plaintiff did not file an application to proceed in forma pauperis nor did he pay the filing fee. On 20 December 8, 2020, the Court ordered Plaintiff to either pay the filing fee or file an application 21 demonstrating that he is entitled to proceed in this action without prepayment of the filing fee. 22 (ECF No. 2.) 23 On December 21, 2020, the Court docketed a notice of voluntary dismissal filed by 24 Plaintiff pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. (ECF No. 3.) On 25 December 22, 2020, Plaintiff also filed a motion to proceed in forma pauperis. (ECF No. 4.) 26 However, before the in forma pauperis application was filed on the docket, the Court signed an 27 order dismissing this action pursuant to the notice of voluntary dismissal filed by Plaintiff. (ECF No. 5.) The order dismissing the action was not entered on the docket until after the in forma 1 | pauperis application was filed. (ECF Nos. 4, 5.) Nonetheless, a Rule 41 voluntary dismissal is 2 | effective on filing. Commercial Space Mgmt. Co., Inc. v. Boeing Co., Inc., 193 F.3d 1074, 1077 3 | (9th Cir. 1999) (“Thus, it is beyond debate that a dismissal under Rule 41(a)(1) is effective on 4 | filing, no court order is required, the parties are left as though no action had been brought, the 5 | defendant can’t complain, and the district court lacks jurisdiction to do anything about it.”) 6 | Therefore, Plaintiff is notified that this action has already been closed pursuant to his notice of 7 | voluntary dismissal. 8 Accordingly, the motion to proceed in forma pauperis (ECF No. 4) is HEREBY 9 | DISREGARDED. 10 i IT IS SO ORDERED. DAM Le 12 | Dated: _December 23, 2020_ Of UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28