Opinion
2:22-cv-00979-APG-BNW
10-05-2022
BRYAN DRYDEN, Plaintiff, v. BARRET, et al., Defendants.
ORDER
BRENDA WEKSLER UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Pro se plaintiff Bryan Dryden brings this civil-rights lawsuit to redress constitutional violations he alleges he suffered while he was incarcerated at High Desert State Prison. (ECF No. 1-1). On July 22, 2022, this Court denied Dryden's original application to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) with leave to either pay the full $402 fee for filing a civil action or file a new fully complete IFP application by September 21, 2021. (ECF No. 3). Dryden responded by filing a notice on August 17, 2022, that the Nevada Department of Corrections (“NDOC”) recently sent a $400 check to pay the filing fee and a financial certificate and six-month inmate account statement for Dryden. (ECF No. 5). Over a month has passed since Dryden filed his notice, and the Court has not yet received any payment or other documents from the NDOC about Dryden or this matter. The Court construes Dryden's filing as a motion to extend the deadline for him to either pay the full filing fee or properly apply for IFP status.
I. DISCUSSION
Dryden insists that the full fee for filing a civil action is $400. (ECF No. 5). Dryden is mistaken, and his belief appears to be based on an old form he used. (Id.) As the Court stated in its prior order, and as the instructions and form that the Court provided Dryden state, “[t]he fee for filing any civil action other than for a petition for writ of habeas corpus is $402 (which includes the $350 filing fee and the $52 administrative fee).” (ECF No. 31 at 1, 6). Dryden has not filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, so the filing fee for his civil-rights action is $402.
In any event, the Court notes that included with Dryden's notice are the first and third pages of the court's form application for IFP status. (Id. at 2-4). Those pages are completed, but they do not constitute a complete IFP application because the second and fourth pages of the form are missing, and Dryden did not include an inmate account statement for the previous six-months. Dryden claims that partial payment of the filing fee and the missing parts of his IFP application have been sent to the Court by the NDOC. Over a month has passed since Dryden's notice and the Court has not yet received any payment or documents from the NDOC for this action or Dryden. Nor has the Court received anything further from Dryden himself.
The Court thus construes the notice as a motion to extend the time for Dryden to either pay the full $402 filing fee or properly apply to proceed IFP. The Court will grant Dryden a final, 60-day extension of time to either pay the full $402 fee for filing a civil action or file a new fully complete application to proceed in forma pauperis with all three required documents: (1) a completed “Application to Proceed in Forma Pauperis for Inmate,” which is pages 1 through 3 of the Court's approved form with Dryden's two signatures on page 3; (2) a Financial Certificate properly signed by both Dryden and a prison official, which is page 4 of this Court's approved form; and (3) a copy of Dryden's prison trust fund account statement for the previous six-month period.
II. CONCLUSION
It is therefore ordered that ECF No. 5 is construed as a motion for an extension of time and granted. Plaintiff Dryden has 60 days from today to either pay the full $402 filing fee for a civil action or file a new fully complete application to proceed in forma pauperis with all three of the required documents identified above. Further extensions will not be granted absent unusual circumstances.
Plaintiff Dryden is cautioned that this action will be subject to dismissal without prejudice if he fails to timely comply with this order.
The Clerk of the Court is directed to send plaintiff Dryden the approved form application to proceed in forma pauperis for inmate and instructions for the same.