Arroyo v. John/Jane Does 1-4

Background

Annibal Arroyo filed claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 concerning events in 2018 and 2019, when he was a pretrial detainee at the Anna M. Kross Center. The court had directed him to file an amended complaint within 60 days. In letters dated February 19 and 22, 2022, Arroyo asked to voluntarily withdraw the complaint.

Filing-fee requests

The complaint had been filed without prepaying the filing fee under the statute allowing qualifying litigants to proceed without prepayment. Arroyo asked for the filing fee to be refunded and appeared to question whether withdrawals from his account exceeded the required installments. The court explained that a prisoner who receives this status must still pay the full filing fee, even if the case is later voluntarily withdrawn or dismissed. The court also explained that payments toward filing fees for multiple cases may be withdrawn at the same time. Because the court did not have copies of Arroyo’s prison account statements, it could not determine whether the withdrawals complied with the statute. The court noted that Arroyo had not alleged withdrawals exceeding the $350 filing fee and had not established a basis for relief.

Ruling

Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice under Rule 41(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied filing-fee status for the purpose of an appeal. The order did not resolve the underlying § 1983 claims.