Williams v. Miller

District Court, D. Nevada

Williams v. Miller

Trial Court Opinion

1 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 2 TERRANCE WILLIAMS, Case No. 3:22-cv-00426-ART-CLB 3 Plaintiff, ORDER 4 v.

5 MILLER, et al.,

6 Defendants.

7 I. DISCUSSION 8 On December 2, 2022, this Court dismissed Plaintiff’s action without 9 prejudice because Plaintiff failed to file a fully complete application to proceed in 10 forma pauperis or pay the $402 filing fee in compliance with this Court’s order. 11 (ECF No. 5). Instead, Plaintiff only submitted a financial certificate and an inmate 12 account statement but did not submit pages 1 through 3 of the application. (See 13 ECF No. 4). 14 On January 5, 2023, Plaintiff filed a motion with the Court inquiring how 15 to reopen his case and noted that his failure to file the 3-page application was a 16 “novice error” and that he has proof that his in forma pauperis pack was complete 17 on October 4, 2022. (ECF No. 9 at 2). 18 The Court grants Plaintiff’s motion. If Plaintiff would like to move to reopen 19 his case, he will submit the remaining 3 pages of his application to proceed in 20 forma pauperis within 30 days from the date of this order, and he will need to 21 demonstrate excusable neglect in his motion to reopen. 22 In his motion to reopen, Plaintiff will essentially ask this Court to set aside 23 its judgment dismissing this action without prejudice pursuant to Federal Rule 24 of Civil Procedure 60(b)(1). This rule provides that a court may relieve a party or 25 its legal representative from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for “mistake, 26 inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(1). 27 In Pioneer Inv. Servs. Co. v. Brunswick Assocs. Ltd. P’ship,

507 U.S. 380

28 1 || (1993), the Supreme Court interpreted “neglect” to encompass “both simple, 2 || faultless omissions to act and, more commonly, omissions caused by 3 || carelessness.”

Id. at 388

. In assessing whether a set-side is justified by a party’s 4 || excusable neglect, courts apply a four-part test: (1) the danger of prejudice to the 5 || opposing party; (2) the length of the delay and its potential impact on judicial 6 || proceedings; (3) the reason for the delay, including whether it was within the 7 || reasonable control of the movant; and (4) whether the movant acted in good faith. 8 ||

Id. at 395

. IL. CONCLUSION 10 It is therefore ordered that the motion to inquire procedure to reopen (ECF 11 || No. 9) is granted. If Plaintiff seeks to reopen his case, he will file the missing 12 || documents from his application to proceed in forma pauperis and file a motion to 13 || reopen within 30 days from the date of this order. 14 It is further ordered that Clerk of the Court will send Plaintiff the approved 15 || form application to proceed in forma pauperis by an inmate, as well as the 16 || document entitled information and instructions for filing an in forma pauperis 17 || application. 18 19 DATED THIS 10th day of February 2023. 20 21 en 22 Aa / 23 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 24 25 26 27 28

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