Batista v. Orange County Deparmtent of Mental Health

Background

Hector Batista, who was being held in the Orange County Jail, brought this civil action without a lawyer against the Orange County Department of Mental Health and Orange County Jail. He submitted his complaint without the required filing fees, a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, or a prisoner authorization.

Order

The court ordered Batista, within 30 days of the order, to choose one of two options: pay $400 in filing and administrative fees, or submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees and the prisoner authorization forms. The $400 consists of a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee. If the court grants the application, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from Batista's prison trust account. The prisoner authorization also directs the facility to make those deductions and provide the court with certified statements from the account for the previous six months.

The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Batista a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order states that the action would be processed under the Clerk's procedures if Batista complied and would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the allowed time.

Appeal and warning

Chief Judge Colleen McMahon certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith, so permission to appeal without prepaying fees was denied. The court also warned that a prisoner's case dismissed as malicious, frivolous, or for failure to state a claim can count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). After three strikes, a prisoner generally cannot proceed without prepaying fees in new federal civil actions unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.

What the order decided

This was a filing and fee order. It did not decide the substance of Batista's claims against either defendant.