Opinion
No. CIV S-06-0433 LKK PAN P.
August 3, 2006
ORDER
Plaintiff is an inmate at the San Joaquin County jail. On March 1, 2006, plaintiff filed a document with the court styled "letter," seeking mental health care. By order of the court filed March 24, 2006, plaintiff was instructed that in order to commence an action, plaintiff must file a complaint as required by Rule 3 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and plaintiff must either pay the $250.00 filing fee required for a civil rights action or file an application requesting leave to proceed in forma pauperis. Plaintiff has requested leave to proceed in forma pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915, but has not filed any other pleadings.
After a long second look, plaintiff's initial filing looks more like a letter than a complaint in a federal lawsuit. In fact, the document is titled "letter." Plaintiff has two choices of how to proceed here, and he should be informed of the choices in front of him. First, he may treat this as a lawsuit. If he does so he will need to file a new and more detailed complaint using, as a guide, the form that the Clerk of Court will send to him. If he files that complaint his request to proceed in forma pauperis will be granted, but that will not relieve him of the need to pay the $250.00 filing fee; his in forma pauperis status will simply mean that the filing fee will be deducted from his prison trust account gradually over time. Plaintiff's second choice is to ask that his document be treated as a letter, the way he titled it. If plaintiff decides that that is what he wants to do, then the document he sent to the court will be forwarded to a proper recipient to deal with as he or she thinks is proper. If that is plaintiff's decision, then plaintiff's document will be forwarded, this case will be dismissed without prejudice, and plaintiff will not be required to pay the two hundred fifty dollar filing fee.
In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
1. The Clerk of the Court is directed to send plaintiff the court's form for filing a civil rights action.
2. By September 2, 2006 plaintiff shall do one of two things:
A. Prepare a complaint for filing in this court, following the form sent by the Clerk of Court; or
B. Send a short note to this court saying that he wants his earlier communication treated as a letter.