Opinion
CASE NO.: 3:08cv24/RV/MD.
January 22, 2008
ORDER
This cause is before the court upon plaintiff filing a civil rights complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (Doc. 1).
Plaintiff did not file his complaint on the required Northern District form. Local Rule 5.1(J) for the Northern District of Florida states that the court will not accept for consideration a complaint under section 1983 unless the appropriate complaint form is completed. Thus, plaintiff must file his complaint on the form for use in section 1983 cases, even if he wants to attach separate pages explaining the facts that underlie the complaint. However, plaintiff should not file a memorandum of law or otherwise provide citations to statutes and cases, and he should not file exhibits as evidentiary support for his complaint. The court will notify plaintiff when memoranda and exhibits are necessary, such as prior to trial or in conjunction with a motion for summary judgment.
Additionally, plaintiff has neither paid the filing fee of $350.00 nor applied to proceed in forma pauperis. Plaintiff's case cannot proceed until he either pays the filing fee or files a complete application to proceed in forma pauperis motion. A complete application includes a motion with supporting affidavit and a prisoner consent form and financial certificate with attachments (a printout of the transactions in plaintiff's inmate trust account for the past six months).
Accordingly, it is ORDERED:
1. The clerk is directed to send plaintiff a § 1983 complaint form and a form application to proceed in forma pauperis. This case number should be written on the forms.
2. Plaintiff shall file an amended complaint using the court form. To amend his complaint, plaintiff should completely fill out a new civil rights complaint form, marking it "Amended Complaint." Plaintiff is advised that the amended complaint must contain all of plaintiff's allegations, and it should not in any way refer to the original complaint. Once an amended complaint is filed, all earlier complaints are disregarded. Local Rule 15.1, Northern District of Florida.
3. Plaintiff shall either submit the $350.00 filing fee, or file a complete application to proceed in forma pauperis.
4. Plaintiff shall do the above within thirty (30) days from the date of this order. Failure to do so will result in a recommendation that this case be dismissed for failure to prosecute and failure to comply with an order of the court.
DONE AND ORDERED.