Johnson v. Cuevas
- Jeffrey White
- 4:21-cv-05264
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Johnson v. Cuevas, Judge White granted reconsideration, vacated the judgment, reopened the case, revoked pauper status, and ordered payment of the filing fee.
Paul David Johnson must pay the $350 filing fee within 28 days, or this case will be dismissed without prejudice; the case itself was reopened after the judgment was vacated.
What happened
In Johnson v. Cuevas, the court had dismissed the case because it did not receive Paul David Johnson’s amended complaint by the deadline. Johnson filed it shortly afterward, and the court excused the delay because he was incarcerated and representing himself.
The court granted reconsideration, vacated the judgment, and reopened the case. It also ruled that Johnson had at least three prior qualifying dismissals under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, so he could not proceed without paying the filing fee. The court found that his complaint did not show an imminent danger of serious physical injury.
The court revoked Johnson’s status allowing him to proceed without paying fees and ordered him to pay the full $350 filing fee within 28 days. Judge Jeffrey White stated that failing to pay would result in dismissal of this case without prejudice to bringing the claims in a new civil-rights case after paying the fee.
The detailed version
- Johnson v. Cuevas · No. 4:21-cv-05264
- Jeffrey White
- Jan. 17, 2023
Background
The court had previously allowed Paul David Johnson to file an amended complaint but dismissed the case after the amended complaint was not received by the deadline. Johnson filed the amended complaint shortly thereafter. The court excused the late filing because Johnson was incarcerated and representing himself.
Reconsideration and reopening
The court granted reconsideration of the dismissal order, vacated the judgment, and reopened the case.
Revocation of fee waiver
Johnson had previously been allowed to proceed without paying the filing fee, a status commonly called proceeding in forma pauperis. The Prison Litigation Reform Act generally bars a prisoner from proceeding without paying fees when the prisoner has brought at least three earlier cases or appeals that were dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or for failing to state a legally sufficient claim, unless the prisoner was in imminent danger of serious physical injury when the case was filed.
The court found that Johnson had at least three qualifying prior dismissals. It also found that his complaint alleged only that he was not allowed to return to the law library, which did not establish imminent danger of serious physical injury. The exception therefore did not apply.
Order
The court revoked Johnson’s permission to proceed without paying the fee. It ordered him to pay the full $350 filing fee within 28 days after the order was filed. The court stated that failure to pay would result in dismissal of this case without prejudice to Johnson bringing his claims in a new civil-rights case in which he pays the filing fee.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.