Allison v. Stein Treatment Teams ( 2021 )

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 RONALD J. ALLISON, Case No. 2:21-cv-01883-JAD-EJY 4 Plaintiff, ORDER 5 v. 6 STEIN TREATMENT TEAMS, 7 Defendant. 8 9 I. DISCUSSION 10 On October 12, 2021, Plaintiff, an inmate currently located at Southern Nevada Adult Mental 11 Health Services, submitted a civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. ECF 1-1. Plaintiff did 12 not submit a complaint in compliance with Local Special Rule 2-1. Plaintiff also did not submit an 13 application to proceed in forma pauperis or pay the full $402 filing fee in this matter. 14 A. Plaintiff’s Initiating Document 15 The Court notes that Plaintiff’s document at ECF No. 1-1 does not comply with Local Special 16 Rule 2-1 (“LSR 2-1”). Under LSR 2-1, a civil rights complaint filed by a person who is not 17 represented by an attorney must be submitted on the form provided by the court or must be legible 18 and contain substantially all the information called for by the court’s form. Plaintiff’s complaint 19 does neither. 20 Further, Plaintiff seeks to certify a potential class of persons who were subjected to the same 21 practices alleged in their Complaint. Pro se plaintiffs may only represent themselves--they are 22 prohibited from pursuing claims on behalf of others in a representative capacity. Simon v. Hartford 23 Life, Inc., 546 F.3d 661, 664 (9th Cir. 2008) (collecting cases and noting that courts routinely prohibit 24 pro se plaintiffs from representing others); Russell v. United States, 308 F.2d 78, 79 (9th Cir. 1962) 25 (“A litigant appearing [pro se] has no authority to represent anyone other than himself.”). Thus, to 26 27 1 the extent Plaintiffs seek relief on behalf of a class of similarly situated persons, they are not 2 permitted to do so. Thus, any amendment to Plaintiff’s complaint must remove requests for 3 relief on behalf of others. 4 B. There is No Application to Proceed in Forma Pauperis 5 Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2) and Local Rule LSR 1-2, an inmate seeking to commence a 6 civil action may apply to proceed in forma pauperis, which allows the inmate to file the civil action 7 without prepaying the full $402 filing fee. To apply for in forma pauperis status, the inmate must 8 submit all three of the following documents to the Court: 9 (1) a completed Application to Proceed in Forma Pauperis for Inmate, on this Court’s 10 approved form (i.e. pages 1 through 3 with the inmate’s two signatures on page 3), 11 (2) a Financial Certificate properly signed by both the inmate and a facility or jail official 12 (i.e. page 4 of this Court’s approved form), and 13 (3) a copy of the inmate’s facility or jail trust fund account statement for the previous 14 six-month period. If Plaintiff has not been at the facility a full six-month period, Plaintiff 15 must still submit an inmate account statement for the dates he has been present at the facility. 16 II. ORDER 17 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall send to Plaintiff the approved 18 form for filing a § 1983 complaint, instructions for the same, and a copy of his original document at 19 ECF No. 1-1. 20 IT IS FURTHER ORDERD that Plaintiff shall have until on or before December 17, 2021 21 to submit a complaint to the Court in compliance with LSR 2-1. Plaintiff is reminded that any 22 amendment to Plaintiff’s complaint must remove requests for relief on behalf of others. 23 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, if Plaintiff does not file a complaint in compliance with 24 LSR 2-1 on or before December 17, 2021, this case will be subject to dismissal without prejudice 25 for Plaintiff to refile the case with the Court, under a new case number, when Plaintiff is able to file 26 a complaint in compliance with LSR 2-1. 27 1 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall send Plaintiff the approved 2 form application to proceed in forma pauperis by an inmate, as well as the document entitled 3 information and instructions for filing an in forma pauperis application. 4 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that on or before December 17, 2021, Plaintiff shall either pay 5 the full $402 filing fee for a civil action (which includes the $350 filing fee and the $52 6 administrative fee) or file with the Court: 7 (1) a completed Application to Proceed in Forma Pauperis for Inmate on this Court’s 8 approved form (i.e. pages 1 through 3 of the form with the inmate’s two signatures on page 9 3), 10 (2) a Financial Certificate properly signed by both the inmate and a facility or jail official 11 (i.e. page 4 of this Court’s approved form), and 12 (3) a copy of the inmate’s facility or jail trust fund account statement for the previous 13 six-month period. If Plaintiff has not been at the facility a full six-month period, Plaintiff 14 must still submit an inmate account statement for the dates he has been present at the facility. 15 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, if Plaintiff does not file a fully complete application to 16 proceed in forma pauperis with all three documents or pay the full $402 filing fee for a civil action 17 on or before December 17, 2021, together with his complaint, this case will be subject to dismissal 18 without prejudice for Plaintiff to refile the case with the Court, under a new case number, when 19 Plaintiff has all three documents needed to file a complete application to proceed in forma pauperis. 20 DATED this 18th day of October, 2021. 21 22 ELAYNA J. YOUCHAH 23 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 24 25 26 27