Staples v. Halvorson

Background

The court considered Joshua Staples’s application to proceed without prepaying fees or costs and his emergency motion for injunctive relief. The emergency motion apparently sought a temporary restraining order, which is a short-term order that can require action before the opposing parties have responded.

Rulings on fees

The court granted Staples’s pending application to proceed without prepaying fees or costs. It denied as moot his first application to proceed without prepaying fees or costs.

The Clerk of Court was ordered to refund Staples $50 of the $400 he had previously paid. The court explained that the statutory filing fee was $350 and that the additional $50 administrative fee did not apply to prisoners proceeding under the federal fee-waiver statute. The court noted that fee-waiver status does not eliminate a prisoner’s filing-fee obligation; it generally permits payment in installments. In Staples’s case, the court stated that the initial partial fee was the full $350 filing fee because of the balance in his prison account.

Emergency motion

The court stated that it would not entertain the emergency motion at that time. It concluded that a temporary restraining order without notice to the defendants was inappropriate because Staples had not submitted the written certification required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(b)(1)(B), describing efforts to provide notice and why notice should not be required. The court stated that it would address the motion after the defendants had an opportunity to respond. The opinion does not state that the emergency motion was denied.

Capacity statement and service

The court found it unclear whether Staples intended to sue the defendants in their individual capacities, official capacities, or both. That distinction could affect the relief available for any claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a federal civil-rights statute, and the way the defendants would be served with the lawsuit.

Staples was ordered to submit a one-page addendum identifying the capacity or capacities in which he sued the defendants for purposes of any § 1983 claim. The deadline was 14 days. If he failed to file the addendum, the court would construe those claims as official-capacity claims only, and the case would proceed with service carried out on that basis.

Disposition

The fee application was granted; the earlier fee application was denied as moot; the $50 refund was ordered; the emergency motion was not considered at that time; and Staples was given 14 days to clarify the defendants’ capacities.