Opinion
No. 2: 18-cv-1948 TLN KJN P
10-02-2019
MANFRED SHOCKNER, Plaintiff, v. DR. SOLTANIAN, et al., Defendants.
ORDER
Plaintiff is a state prisoner, proceeding without counsel, with a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff paid the filing fee.
On January 18, 2019, the undersigned found that plaintiff's second amended complaint stated potentially colorable claims for relief against defendants Soltanian, Smith and Vaughn. (ECF No. 22.) The undersigned ordered plaintiff to complete service of process on defendants within sixty days. (Id.) The undersigned ordered plaintiff and defendants to submit status reports within 120 days of the January 28, 2019 order. (Id.)
One hundred twenty days passed from January 18, 2019, and neither plaintiff nor defendants submitted status reports. Accordingly, on September 5, 2019, the undersigned ordered plaintiff to file a status report within thirty days addressing the status of service of defendants. (ECF No. 31.) ////
On September 23, 2019, inmate D. Garcia filed a motion for an extension of time to serve defendants, on plaintiff's behalf. (ECF No. 32.) Plaintiff did not sign this motion. Inmate D. Garcia is not authorized to submit pleadings on plaintiff's behalf. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(a). Plaintiff is required to sign all pleadings. Accordingly, the September 23, 2019 motion for extension of time is disregarded.
On September 25, 2019, plaintiff filed a motion alleging that inmate D. Garcia is having difficulty obtaining copies of documents related to plaintiff's case from prison officials at Mule Creek State Prison ("MCSP"). Plaintiff requests that the court order MCSP officials to allow inmate D. Garcia to make copies of documents related to plaintiff's case. Plaintiff also requests that the court order MCSP officials to provide inmate D. Garcia with legal paper. This motion is signed by plaintiff, himself.
While prisoners do have a constitutional right of access to the courts, see Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817 (1977), as well as a "right to receive assistance from other prisoners," those rights are "conditioned upon a showing that the inmate[] in question did not have adequate access to the court without the help of another prisoner." Oster v. Clarke, 2009 WL 279056 at *4 (W.D. Wash. 2009); see also Robledo v. Amenta, 2019 WL 1574320 at *2 (S.D. Cal. 2019).
In the instant case, plaintiff does not allege that he does not have adequate access to the courts without the assistance of inmate Garcia. Because plaintiff has not alleged sufficient facts demonstrating that he is unable to pursue this litigation on his own, his constitutional right of access to the courts has not been violated by inmate Garcia's alleged difficulties in obtaining legal paper and copies of documents related to plaintiff's case. See Robledo, 2019 WL 1574320 at *2; see Smith v. Maschner,899 F.2d 940, 950 (10th Cir. 1990) (prison inmates do not possess the right to a particular prisoner's help in preparing their legal materials, so long as prison officials make other assistance available); cf. Johnson v. Avery, 393 U.S. 483, 490 (1969) (prison may prohibit inmates from giving legal assistance if reasonable alternatives available). For these reasons, plaintiff's request that the court order MCSP officials to allow inmate Garcia to make copies of documents related to plaintiff's case and to grant inmate Garcia access to legal paper is denied.
Although plaintiff has paid the filing fee, the court will order service of defendants if plaintiff qualifies for in forma pauperis status. In other words, if plaintiff qualifies for in forma pauperis status, he will not be required to complete service of process on his own.
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
1. The motion for extension of time filed September 23, 2019 (ECF No. 32) is disregarded;
2. Plaintiff's motion for an order directing MCSP officials to allow inmate Garcia to make copies related to plaintiff's case and to provide inmate Garcia with legal paper (ECF No. 33) is denied;
3. Plaintiff is granted thirty days to file either a status report addressing the status of service of defendants or an application to proceed in forma pauperis; if plaintiff files an application to proceed in forma pauperis, the court will order service of defendants;
4. The Clerk of the Court is directed to send plaintiff the form for an in forma pauperis application by a prisoner. Dated: October 2, 2019
/s/_________
KENDALL J. NEWMAN
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE Shock1948.ord(2)