(PC) Murillo v. Godfrey ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MONA SALCIDA MURILLO, No. 2:23-cv-00667-EFB (PC) 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 D. GODFREY, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel in an action brought under 42 17 U.S.C. § 1983. This action originated on March 22, 2018 in the United States District Court for 18 the Central District of California. On April 10, 2023, that court severed and transferred to this 19 court “the remaining portion of claim Eight (the portion predicated on federal law claims against 20 M. Allen, A. Miliken, and B. Campbell in individual capacities).” ECF No. 1 at 1. 21 On April 14, 2023, this court ordered plaintiff to either submit the filing fee for this action 22 or seek leave to proceed in forma pauperis. ECF No. 3. In response, plaintiff filed a document 23 styled, “Motion to Continue Proceeding In Forma Pauperis as Granted by the Central District 24 Court.”1 ECF No. 5. Plaintiff’s request is denied. Although plaintiff was granted leave to 25 26 1 Plaintiff subsequently filed a motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis. ECF No. 7. 27 That motion is incomplete, however, as it does not include a certified prison trust account statement. Therefore, the Clerk of the Court is directed to request from CDCR a certified prison 28 trust account statement for plaintiff. 1 | proceed in forma pauperis in the Central District, the severed claim transferred to this court 2 || constitutes a new civil action. See Velazquez v. De La Rose Martinez, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 3 || 38490, *5 (Sth Cir. Dec. 29, 2021) (“When a claim is severed, it becomes an entirely new and 4 || independent case.”). Moreover, allowing plaintiff to proceed without consideration of the filing 5 || fee would undermine the Prison Litigation Reform Act. See George v. Smith, 507 F.3d 605, 607 6 || (7th Cir. 2007) (“Unrelated claims against different defendants belong in different suits, not only 7 || to prevent the sort of morass that this 50-claim, 24-defendant suit produced but also to ensure that 8 || prisoners pay the required filing fees—for the Prison Litigation Reform Act limits to 3 the 9 || number of frivolous suits or appeals that any prisoner may file without prepayment of the 10 || required fees.”). 11 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 12 1. Plaintiff's “Motion to Continue Proceeding In Forma Pauperis as Granted by the 13 Central District Court” (ECF No. 5) is denied; and 14 2. The Clerk of the Court is directed to request from CDCR a certified prison trust 15 account statement for plaintiff. 16 17 | Dated: May 25, 2023. □□ PDEA EDMUND F. BRENNAN 18 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28