1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 3 John RYAN, Case No.: 25-cv-1370-AGS-VET 4 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING MOTION TO PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS 5 v. (ECF 2) 6 UC SAN DIEGO MEDICAL CENTER, 7 et al., 8 Defendants. 9 10 Plaintiff, John Ryan, proceeding without an attorney, complains about his medical 11 treatment while in the custody of San Diego County. In support of his complaint, he 12 requests to be permitted to proceed in forma pauperis, that is without paying the filing fee. 13 But because his affidavit supporting his motion is essentially blank, the Court denies that 14 request without prejudice. 15 Typically, plaintiffs in a United States district court must pay filing fees of $405. 16 See

(a); Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, District Court Misc. Fee 17 Schedule, § 14 (eff. Dec. 1, 2023). “An action may proceed despite failure to pay the filing 18 fees only if the party is granted IFP status.” Rodriguez v. Cook,

(9th 19 Cir. 1999). “[T]here is no formula set forth by statute, regulation, or case law to determine 20 when someone is poor enough to earn IFP status.” Escobedo v. Applebees,

, 21 1235 (9th Cir. 2015). But a plaintiff must “submit[] an affidavit stating that [he] lacks 22 sufficient funds” and make that showing “with some particularity, definiteness and 23 certainty.”

(cleaned up). “Such affidavit must include a complete statement of 24 the plaintiff’s personal assets.” Barbara Stuart Robinson v. City of Las Vegas, No. 2:24- 25 cv-02417-MDC,

, at *1 (D. Nev. May 30, 2025) 26 Ryan does not meet that requirement. Although he offers two affidavits, one ignores 27 five pages of questions and provides no information, excepting his name, age, signature, 28 daytime phone number, and last four social-security number digits. (See ECF 2, at 1–5.) 1 || There are a few zeroes, but Ryan didn’t fill those in; they are entries that just compile totals 2 || from other questions and are zero by default. Compare AO 239: Application to Proceed in 3 ||District Court Without Prepaying Fees or Costs (Long Form), available at 4 || https://www.casd.uscourts.gov/_assets/pdf/forms/AO239_ Application%20to%20Proceed 5 ||%20Without%20Prepayment.pdf. Regardless, the affidavit itself warns that an IFP 6 || applicant must “[c]omplete all questions in this application and then sign it. Do not leave 7 blanks.” (See ECF 2, at 1.) The second affidavit follows the same pattern, ignoring 8 || both pages of questions except to write “zero” in the gross income question. (See

at 6— 9 ||7.) Simply put, the affidavits lack virtually any detail to comply with plaintiffs 10 || particularity, definiteness, and certainty burdens. (See

(requiring plaintiffs to write 11 ||‘0” or “N/A” in response to questions even if they have no responsive assets or debts).) 12 So, Ryan’s motion to proceed IFP is DENIED. The Clerk must dismiss the case 13 || without prejudice for failure to pay the filing fee. If Ryan either pays the filing fee or files 14 ||a renewed IFP request by July 25, 2025, the Clerk must automatically reopen this case. 15 Dated: June 2, 2025 16 i 7 Hon. rew G. Schopler United States District Judge 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28