Hill v. Kerns
- Yvonne Rogers
- 4:20-cv-04796
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 1
In Cymeyon V. Hill v. Michael Kern, Judge Rogers dismissed the civil-rights case without prejudice because Hill neither paid the filing fee nor submitted the required fee-waiver application.
Cymeyon V. Hill and the action he filed against Michael Kern; the action was dismissed without prejudice, and the file was closed.
What happened
Cymeyon V. Hill, a civil detainee representing himself, filed a civil-rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Michael Kern.
The court explained that Hill was not subject to the prisoner provisions of the Prisoner Litigation Reform Act because he was a civil detainee. It ordered him to pay the filing fee or submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying the fee within 28 days. Hill did neither and did not otherwise contact the court.
Judge Rogers dismissed the action without prejudice. The clerk was ordered to terminate all pending motions and close the file.
The detailed version
- Hill v. Kerns · No. 4:20-cv-04796
- Yvonne Rogers
- Sept. 29, 2020
Background
Cymeyon V. Hill filed a civil-rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Michael Kern. The opinion describes Hill as a civil detainee proceeding without a lawyer.
Filing-fee requirement
The court had previously determined that, because Hill was a civil detainee, he was not a “prisoner” subject to the Prisoner Litigation Reform Act. The court therefore directed Hill to file a non-prisoner application to proceed without prepaying the filing fee, or to pay the filing fee. The court sent him a blank application and warned that he had 28 days to pay the fee or return the completed application, or the action would be dismissed.
More than 28 days passed. Hill did not pay the filing fee, return the application, or otherwise communicate with the court.
Disposition
The court dismissed the action without prejudice. It also directed the clerk to terminate all pending motions and close the file.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.