Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO.: 5:10-CV-27 (HL).
January 20, 2010
ORDER
Plaintiffs Donte Lee Thomas and Mary D. Day have filed a joint pro se complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, challenging the December 31, 2009 search and confiscation of personal property contained in their residence located at 302 Florida Ave., Willacoochee, Georgia. Both plaintiffs challenge their arrests for possession of cocaine and subsequent probation holds that were placed on each of them by the Coffee and/or Atkinson County Probation Offices. Both plaintiffs have signed a sheet attached to the 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint and Donte Lee Thomas has submitted a request to proceed in forma pauperis.
The Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "PLRA") requires that a prisoner bringing a civil action in forma pauperis pay the full filing fee. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b). The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that prisoners proceeding in forma pauperis are not allowed to join together as plaintiffs in a single lawsuit. Each prisoner is required to file his own lawsuit and pay the full amount of the filing fee. Hubbard v. Haley , 262 F.3d 1194 (11th Cir. 2001). Prisoners may not join claims and thus pro-rate a single filing fee. As the Eleventh Circuit in Hubbard noted, requiring each plaintiff to pay the full filing fee is consistent with Congress's purpose of imposing costs on prisoners to deter frivolous suits. Id. at 1197-98.
Applying this principle to the case at hand, plaintiffs are not allowed to proceed in forma pauperis and this case is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. Plaintiffs will be allowed to re-file their complaints separately, if they so choose.
Plaintiffs should note that if they decide to re-file their separate complaints, it appears that the appropriate venue is in the Southern District of Georgia, not the Middle District. The search, arrests, and alleged confiscation of personal property occurred in Willacoochee (Atkinson County), Georgia, which is located in the Southern District of Georgia. Moreover, the Coffee County and Atkinson County Probation Offices and the employees of such offices are located in the Southern District of Georgia. If plaintiffs sue defendants who reside in the Southern District and continue to complain about events that occurred in the Southern District, they need to file their separate complaints in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.