Sivak v. Thompson
- Martinez-Olguin
- 3:24-cv-01209
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
In Sivak v. Thompson, Judge Martinez-Olguin dismissed the cases without prejudice and denied pending appellate fee-waiver motions under the prisoner three-dismissal rule.
Lacey Sivak's listed cases were dismissed without prejudice after he did not pay the required filing fees. Any pending requests to proceed without paying the appellate fee were denied, and the other pending motions were terminated as moot.
What happened
Lacey Sivak, whom the opinion identifies as an Idaho state prisoner representing himself, filed the cases listed in Sivak v. Thompson. The court had denied his requests to proceed without paying filing fees because he had three or more qualifying prior dismissals and had not shown an immediate danger of serious physical injury.
The court gave Sivak fourteen days to pay the full filing fee in each case, but he did not do so. Although Sivak appealed some of the earlier orders, the appeals did not transfer control of these cases because the Ninth Circuit had not allowed those interlocutory appeals to proceed.
Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin dismissed every listed case without prejudice, allowing Sivak to seek reopening after paying the full fee for each case. The judge also denied any pending request to proceed without paying the fee on appeal and directed the Clerk to terminate the other pending motions as moot and close the cases.
The detailed version
- Sivak v. Thompson · No. 3:24-cv-01209
- Martinez-Olguin
- July 11, 2024
Background
Lacey Sivak filed the listed actions while representing himself. The opinion identifies him as an Idaho state prisoner and a frequent litigant. The listed docket numbers are 24-cv-00631-AMO (PR), 24-cv-00932-AMO (PR), 24-cv-01039-AMO (PR), 24-cv-01056-AMO (PR), 24-cv-01207-AMO (PR), 24-cv-01208-AMO (PR), 24-cv-01209-AMO (PR), 24-cv-01210-AMO (PR), 24-cv-02059-AMO (PR), 24-cv-02944-AMO (PR), 24-cv-02945-AMO (PR), and 23-cv-06251-AMO (PR).
Filing-fee rulings
In each case, the court denied Sivak's request to proceed without paying the filing fee. The opinion explains that federal law bars a prisoner from proceeding without paying the fee after three or more prior qualifying dismissals, unless the prisoner alleges a specific immediate danger of serious physical injury. The court found that Sivak had three or more prior dismissals, had not alleged that type of danger when he filed the actions, and did not otherwise meet the standard for proceeding without paying the fees. The court directed him to pay the full filing fee in each case within fourteen days or face dismissal without prejudice.
Effect of the appeals
Sivak appealed some of the orders instead of paying the filing fees. The court explained that an interlocutory appeal generally transfers control over the issues on appeal to the court of appeals, but a notice of appeal from an interlocutory order is not treated as filed until the court of appeals permits the appeal. Because the Ninth Circuit had not granted permission for these appeals, the district court concluded that it still had jurisdiction over the actions. The court also noted that the Ninth Circuit had issued identical orders dismissing many of Sivak's interlocutory appeals as too insubstantial to warrant further review.
Rulings
The deadline for paying the filing fee had passed in each listed case. The court therefore dismissed each action without prejudice. After paying the full filing fee, Sivak may file a motion to reopen any case, but a separate full filing fee is required for each case he seeks to reopen and pursue.
The court also denied any pending motion for permission to proceed without paying the filing fee on appeal under the same prisoner three-dismissal rule. The opinion states that the Ninth Circuit will independently review the record if Sivak asks that court to proceed without paying the appellate fee. The Clerk was directed to terminate as moot all other pending motions in each case and close all of the listed cases.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.