Lindblad v. Walgreens Corporations
- Charles Breyer
- 3:21-cv-07507
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Lindblad v. Walgreens Corporations, Judge Hixson denied Lindblad’s request for expert fees and lab-work costs because federal law did not authorize payment.
Robert Lindblad, who must bear his own expert and laboratory expenses; the court denied his request for the government to pay them.
What happened
In Lindblad v. Walgreens Corporations, Robert Lindblad sued Walgreens Corporations, Starbucks Coffee, and Arapahoe County Government, alleging a conspiracy to deprive him of his civil rights.
Lindblad had permission to proceed without paying filing fees in advance. He asked the court to pay for lab work concerning alleged strychnine in cotton balls and Starbucks coffee, and to pay for an expert.
Judge Hixson denied the request. The court said the law allows waiver of certain filing fees for people who cannot afford them but does not authorize the government to pay these litigation expenses.
The detailed version
- Lindblad v. Walgreens Corporations · No. 3:21-cv-07507
- Charles Breyer
- Oct. 18, 2021
Background
Robert Lindblad sued Walgreens Corporations, Starbucks Coffee, and Arapahoe County Government, alleging a conspiracy to deprive him of his civil rights. The opinion states that Lindblad had been granted permission to proceed without paying filing fees in advance.
Lindblad asked the court to pay for laboratory work concerning his allegation that cotton balls and Starbucks coffee in his possession contained strychnine. He also asked the court to pay for an expert.
Court’s reasoning
The court explained that public funds may be spent for an indigent litigant only when Congress has authorized that spending. The statute allowing a person to proceed without prepaying court fees does not authorize the government to pay expert-witness fees, laboratory expenses, or other litigation costs in a civil case.
Disposition
The court found that it was not authorized to subsidize Lindblad’s lawsuit and ruled that he was responsible for his own litigation expenses. It therefore denied Lindblad’s request for expert fees and lab-work costs.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.