1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JASON CASILLAS, Case No.: 25-cv-0087-BJC-MMP 12 Plaintiff, ORDER: 13 v. (1) GRANTING MOTION FOR 14 DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY AND LEAVE TO ELECTRONICALLY FIRE PROTECTION, FILE DOCUMENTS [ECF NO. 2] 15 Defendants. AND 16 (2) GRANTING MOTION TO 17 PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS 18 [ECF NO. 3] 19 20 21 On January 14, 2025, Plaintiff Jason Casillas filed a Complaint alleging 22 employment discrimination under federal and state law. [ECF No. 1.] Plaintiff also filed 23 a Motion for Leave to Electronically File Documents [ECF No. 2] and a Motion to Proceed 24 In Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to

(a) [ECF No. 3.] For the reasons 25 stated below, his motions are GRANTED. 26 I. Motion to Electronically File Documents 27 “Except as prescribed by local rule, order, or other procedure, the Court has 28 designated all cases to be assigned to the Electronic Filing System.” S.D. Cal. CivLR 1 5.4(a). With respect to pro se litigants, however, “[u]nless otherwise authorized by the 2 court, all documents submitted for filing to the Clerk’s Office . . . must be in legible, 3 paper form.” Office of the Clerk, United States District Court for the Southern District of 4 California, Electronic Case Filing Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual, § 5 2(b) (January 25, 2025) [“ECF Manual”], 6 https://www.casd.uscourts.gov/_assets/pdf/attorney/Electronic%20Case%20Filing%20Pr 7 ocedures%20Manual.pdf. 8 “A pro se party seeking leave to electronically file documents must file a motion 9 and demonstrate the means to do so properly by stating their equipment and software 10 capabilities, in addition to agreeing to follow all rules and policies in the CM/ECF 11 Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual.” Id. The ECF Manual refers to the 12 Court’s official website for CM/ECF technical specifications, id. at § 1(i), which include 13 a “[c]omputer running on Windows 7 or higher, or MacOS X or higher, or Linux”; 14 “[s]oftware to convert documents from a word processor format to PDF, such as Adobe 15 Acrobat; “[d]ocument scanner to convert paper documents to PDF files”; “[i]nternet 16 access capable of downloading and uploading file sizes up to 35 MB”; a compatible 17 browser, such as “Firefox 15 or higher, Microsoft Edge, or Safari 5.1 or higher”; and 18 “[a]n email account to receive notifications from the Court.” United States District 19 Court, Southern District of California, Electronic Filing Information 20 https://www.casd.uscourts.gov/Prose/Prose-FilingInfo.aspx (last visited February 24, 21 2025). If granted leave to file electronically, Plaintiff must register as a user with the 22 Clerk’s Office and as a PACER subscriber within five days of the date of the order. See 23 ECF Manual. 24 Here, Plaintiff represents that he has equipment and software sufficient to meet the 25 required technical specifications, is familiar with the District’s policies and procedures, 26 and will comply with all relevant privacy policies. (Mot.) Accordingly, the Court 27 GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion. [ECF No. 2.] 28 // 1 II. Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis 2 Generally, all parties instituting a civil action in this court must pay a filing fee. See

(a); Civ.L.R. 4.5(a). However, pursuant to

(a), the court 4 ||may authorize the commencement, prosecution, or defense of any suit without payment 5 || of fees if the plaintiff submits an affidavit, including a statement of all his or her assets, 6 || showing that he or she is unable to pay filing fees or costs. “An affidavit in support of an 7 || IFP application is sufficient where it alleges that the affiant cannot pay the court costs and 8 || still afford the necessities of life.” Escobedo v. Applebees,

(9th Cir. 9 ||2015). “[A] plaintiff seeking IFP status must allege poverty with some particularity, 10 || definiteness and certainty.” /d. (internal quotation marks omitted). The granting or denial 11 || of leave to proceed IFP in civil cases is within the sound discretion of the district court. 12 || Venerable v. Meyers,

(9th Cir. 1974) (citations omitted). 13 Plaintiff did not prepay the filing fees required by

(a) at the time 14 || of filing; instead, he filed a Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis. In his application, 15 || Plaintiff states that he receives $1,043 in monthly income from unemployment payments 16 other sources, and his monthly expenses are $1,828. Plaintiff has $100 in cash and 17 $11.38 in Firefighters First Credit Union. Based on Plaintiffs income, expenses, and bank 18 account, it appears that he does not have funds to pay the filing fee and still “afford the 19 necessities of life.” Escobedo,

. Accordingly, the Court GRANTS 20 || Plaintiff?s IFP Motion [ECF No. 3.] 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. 22 Dated: February 25, 2025 23 24 = j hn Oh uf: — 25 Honorable Benjamin J. Cheeks 26 United States District Judge 27 28