Sivak v. Perea

Background

Lacey Sivak filed the above-captioned actions and represented himself. The court denied his requests to proceed without paying filing fees under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), a provision that generally bars a prisoner with three or more qualifying prior dismissals from proceeding without paying unless the prisoner alleges imminent danger of serious physical injury. The court found that Sivak had three or more prior dismissals, had not alleged specific imminent danger when he filed the actions, and did not meet the standard for proceeding without payment as a prisoner with many prior dismissed lawsuits.

The court directed Sivak to pay the full filing fee in each action within 14 days or risk dismissal without prejudice. Sivak did not pay the fees. He appealed some of the orders denying fee-free status, but the court explained that an interlocutory appeal does not transfer jurisdiction over the issues to the Ninth Circuit until the Ninth Circuit permits the appeal. That permission had not been granted, so the district court retained jurisdiction.

Ruling

The court held that the deadlines for paying the filing fees had passed and dismissed each above-captioned action without prejudice. The order permits Sivak to move to reopen any action after paying its full filing fee. A separate full filing fee is required for each action he seeks to reopen and pursue.

The court also denied any pending request to proceed without paying fees on appeal under § 1915(g) for the same reasons it denied Sivak’s requests in the district court. The order states that the Ninth Circuit will independently review any request to proceed without paying fees on appeal and will decide whether to grant that status. The clerk was directed to terminate all other pending motions as moot and close the cases.