Brown v. Clark County Public Defenders Office ( 2024 )

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 Case No.: 2:24-cv-00437-JAD-DJA 4 Jessica M. Brown, 5 Plaintiff Order Adopting Report & Recommendation 6 and Dismissing Action v. 7 Clark County Public Defenders Office, 8 [ECF Nos. 1, 3] 9 Defendant 10 11 Pro se plaintiff Jessica M. Brown brings this civil-rights action against the public 12 defender who represented her in a state-court criminal prosecution, alleging that counsel’s 13 ineffective assistance violated her Eighth Amendment rights. She also applies to proceed in 14 forma pauperis. The magistrate judge screened the complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a), found 15 that Brown fails to state a viable claim because public defenders do not act “under color of state 16 law” as is required for a person to be a proper target of such a civil-rights claim, and thus 17 recommends that this case be dismissed with prejudice. The magistrate judge also recommends 18 that Brown’s application to proceed in forma pauperis be granted.1 The deadline for Brown to 19 object to that recommendation was April 3, 2024, and Brown neither filed an objection nor 20 moved to extend the deadline to do so. “[N]o review is required of a magistrate judge’s report 21 and recommendation unless objections are filed.”2 Having reviewed the R&R, I find good cause 22 to adopt it, and I do. 23 IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Brown’s application to proceed in forma pauperis 24 [ECF No. 1] is GRANTED. This status doesn’t relieve plaintiff of her obligation to pay the full 25 26 1 ECF No. 3. 27 2 Schmidt v. Johnstone, 263 F. Supp. 2d 1219, 1226 (D. Ariz. 2003); see also Thomas v. Arn, 474 28 U.S. 140, 150 (1985); United States v. Reyna-Tapia, 328 F.3d 1114, 1121 (9th Cir. 2003). 1 || filing fee under 28 U.S.C. § 1915, as amended; it just means that she can do it in installments. 2 || The full $350 filing fee will remain due and owing even though this case is being dismissed. 3 In order to ensure that the plaintiff pays the full filing fee, IT IS FURTHER ORDERED 4 || that the Nevada Department of Corrections must pay to the Clerk of the United States 5 || District Court, District of Nevada, 20% of the preceding month’s deposits to the account of 6 || Jessica M. Brown, # 1175563 (in months that the account exceeds $10.00) until the full $350 7 || filing fee has been paid for this action. The Clerk is directed to SEND a copy of this order (1) to 8 || the Finance Division of the Clerk’s Office and (2) to the attention of Chief of Inmate Services fo 9 || the Nevada Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 7011, Carson City, NV 89702. 10 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this case is DISMISSED with prejudice for failure 11 || to state a claim. The Clerk of Court is directed to CLOSE THIS CASE. 13 USS. District Ju geJennifer\A, Dorse 14 April 8, 202 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28