Thompson v. Quilty

Background

The court had previously granted Thompson permission to file a second amended complaint and warned that failure to do so would result in dismissal for failure to state a claim. After learning that Thompson had been transferred between correctional facilities, the court issued another order giving him 30 additional days to file. The clerk mailed that order to Thompson at the new facility.

Thompson did not file a second amended complaint and did not otherwise communicate with the court. His existing amended complaint had been filed without paying the filing fee upfront under the federal statute governing fee-waiver cases.

Rulings

The court dismissed Thompson’s amended complaint under the screening provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1915. The opinion states that the federal claims had been dismissed and that any state-law claims remained only as possible supplemental claims—claims that could be heard in federal court because they were related to federal claims. The court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over any state-law claims Thompson might be asserting.

The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied fee-waiver status for an appeal and directed the clerk to enter judgment.

Classification

This is a procedural order because the court dismissed the complaint under the federal screening and failure-to-state-a-claim framework without deciding the underlying claims on their merits. It also declined supplemental jurisdiction over the possible state-law claims.