Opinion
3:23-cv-00034-CDL-CHW
08-29-2023
KENNETH RAY CAMPBELL, Plaintiff, v. LT. MEEKS, et al., Defendants.
ORDER
CLAY D. LAND U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE
Plaintiff Kenneth Ray Campbell, a detainee in the Walton County Jail in Monroe, Georgia, filed a pro se civil rights complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Compl., ECF No. 1; Recast Compl., ECF No. 7. Plaintiff also filed a motion for leave to proceed in this action in forma pauperis. Mot. for Leave to Proceed In Forma Pauperis, ECF No. 2. The United States Magistrate Judge granted Plaintiff's motion to proceed in forma pauperis and ordered Plaintiff to pay an initial partial filing fee of $3.13. Order, ECF No. 5.
Thereafter, Plaintiff failed to pay the initial partial filing fee within the allotted time and failed to respond to the Magistrate Judge's order to show cause why the Court should not dismiss this case based on his failure to pay the initial partial filing fee. As a result, this Court dismissed Plaintiff's case without prejudice for failure to pay the initial partial filing fee. Order, ECF No. 11. Plaintiff subsequently filed a response to the dismissal, which the Court construes as a motion to alter or amend the judgment. Letter Regarding Payment, ECF No. 13.
In this motion, Plaintiff asserts that the money for the initial partial filing fee had been removed from his account at the jail and that he had no control over what happened to the money after it left his account. Id. at 1. Plaintiff included a receipt showing that the payment for the initial partial filing fee was deducted from Plaintiff's inmate account within the original time provided for paying the initial partial filing fee. Attach. to Letter 1, ECF No. 13-1. When Plaintiff's response was filed, the payment had not been received by this Court, but that payment has now been received and is reflected on the docket of this case.
Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e), the Court may alter or amend a judgment in order to prevent a manifest injustice. See United States v. Battle, 272 F.Supp.2d 1354, 1357 (N.D.Ga. 2003). Here, the initial partial filing fee was deducted from Plaintiff's account, but it was not transmitted to this Court in a timely manner through no fault of Plaintiff. Under these circumstances, the Court will set aside the order of dismissal in the interests of justice. Therefore, the Court now ORDERS that the July 26, 2023, order of dismissal (ECF No. 11) and judgment (ECF No. 12) be VACATED.
Having vacated the order of dismissal and judgment, the Court now refers this case back to the United States Magistrate Judge for the preliminary review of Plaintiff's complaint.
SO ORDERED