Nunn v. Department of Corrections ( 2024 )

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 TYRONE NOEL NUNN, Case No. 2:24-cv-01877-RFB-DJA 4 Plaintiff ORDER 5 v. 6 DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, et al., 7 Defendants 8 9 On October 7 and 18, 2024, Plaintiff submitted a civil-rights complaint and a single- 10 page document titled “in forma pauperis” that simply states “28 U.S.C. 1915a.” ECF Nos. 11 1-1, 3. Plaintiff has neither paid the $405 filing fee nor filed an application to proceed in 12 forma pauperis (“IFP”), one of which is necessary to commence a civil action. 13 Plaintiff has filed over 80 pro se lawsuits in this district since July 2023.1 Dozens 14 of these lawsuits have been dismissed because Plaintiff failed to correct fundamental 15 defects with them like filing a single, signed complaint and either paying the filing fee or 16 filing a complete IFP application. See, e.g., Nunn v. Department of Corrections, Case 17 No. 3:24-cv-00050-ART-CLB, ECF No. 4 at 3–4 (D. Nev. Nov. 20, 2024) (collecting 18 cases). Although the Court will give Plaintiff an opportunity to file an IFP application or 19 pay the full filing fee in this case, the Court is considering other case-management 20 options, including recommending immediate dismissal of a case or declaring Plaintiff a 21 vexatious litigant, if his unwillingness to file the documents necessary to initiate a civil 22 action continues. See Ready Transp., Inc. v. AAR Mfg., Inc., 627 F.3d 402, 404 (9th Cir. 23 2010) (holding it is well-established that district courts have the inherent power to control 24 their docket). 25 As Plaintiff is aware, he must pay the filing fee or file a complete IFP application. 26 For an inmate like Plaintiff to proceed without prepaying the filing fee—that is proceed in 27 28 1 The Court takes judicial notice of the online docket records of the U.S. Courts, which may be accessed by the public at: https://pacer.uscourts.gov. 1 forma pauperis—the inmate must comply with 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a) and Local Rule LSR 2 1-2. This requires Plaintiff to submit three documents to the Court: (1) a completed 3 Application to Proceed in Forma Pauperis for Inmate, on this Court’s approved form 4 (i.e. pages 1 through 3 with the inmate’s two signatures on page 3), (2) a Financial 5 Certificate properly signed by both the inmate and a prison or jail official (i.e. page 4 of 6 this Court’s approved form), and (3) a copy of the inmate’s prison or jail trust fund 7 account statement for the previous six-month period. 8 It is therefore ordered that Plaintiff has until December 26, 2024, to either pay the 9 $405 filing fee for a civil action or file with the Court: (1) a complete Application to 10 Proceed in Forma Pauperis for Inmate on the Court’s approved form; (2) a Financial 11 Certificate properly signed by both the inmate and a prison or jail official; and (3) a copy 12 of the inmate’s prison or jail trust fund account statement for the previous six- 13 month period. 14 It is further ordered that this action will be subject to dismissal without prejudice if 15 Plaintiff fails to timely comply with this order. 16 It is further ordered that the Clerk of the Court will send Plaintiff Tyrone Nunn the 17 approved application to proceed in forma pauperis for inmates and information and 18 instructions for the same. 19 20 21 DATED: November 25, 2024 22 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 23 24 25 26 27 28