1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

3 RAPHAEL ROCCO, Case No. 3:25-cv-00581-ART-CLB

4 Plaintiff ORDER

5 v. [ECF No. 1]

6 TERRY ROYAL, et al.,

7 Defendants 8 On October 16, 2025, Plaintiff Raphael Rocco filed an application to proceed in 9 forma pauperis. (ECF No. 1). Plaintiff’s application is incomplete because he did not use 10 the Court’s approved form and his financial documents are outdated. (See id.) Plaintiff 11 also did not file a complaint. The Court will deny the incomplete in forma pauperis 12 application and give Plaintiff until December 22, 2025, to correct both deficiencies. 13 This Court is aware that Plaintiff filed another lawsuit on October 17, 2025, that 14 includes a complaint, but Plaintiff neither paid the $405 filing fee nor applied to proceed 15 in forma pauperis in that action. Rocco v. Royal et al., Case No. 3:25-cv-00586-MMD- 16 CSD (“Rocco II”). If Plaintiff did not intend to file two lawsuits, then he must proceed in 17 this earlier-filed lawsuit and should file a notice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 18 41(a)(1)(A)(i) voluntarily dismissing his later-filed Rocco II action. And Plaintiff should file 19 the notice of voluntary dismissal in Rocco II, not this lawsuit. 20 I. DISCUSSION 21 A. Plaintiff must file a signed complaint. 22 “A civil action is commenced by filing a complaint with the court.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 3. “A civil-rights complaint filed by a person who is not represented by an attorney must 24 be submitted on the form provided by this court or must be legible and contain 25 substantially all the information called for by the court’s form.” LSR 2-1. And the complaint 26 must be signed personally by the unrepresented party. Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(a). 27 1 B. Plaintiff must pay the filing fee or file a new application. 2 This Court must collect filing fees from parties initiating civil actions. 28 U.S.C. 3 § 1914(a). As of December 1, 2023, the fee for filing a civil-rights action is $405, which 4 includes the $350 filing fee and the $55 administrative fee. See

(b). “Any 5 person who is unable to prepay the fees in a civil case may apply to the court for leave to 6 proceed in forma pauperis.” LSR 1-1. For an inmate to apply for in forma pauperis status, 7 the inmate must submit all three of the following documents to the court: (1) a completed 8 Application to Proceed in Forma Pauperis for Inmate, which is pages 1–3 of the 9 court’s approved form, that is properly signed by the inmate twice on page 3; (2) a 10 completed Financial Certificate, which is page 4 of the court’s approved form, that is 11 properly signed by both the inmate and a prison or jail official; and (3) a copy of the 12 inmate’s prison or jail trust fund account statement for the previous six-month period. See 13

(a)(1), (2); LSR 1-2. In forma pauperis status does not relieve an inmate 14 of his or her obligation to pay the filing fee, it just means that the inmate can pay the fee 15 in installments. See

(b). 16 C. Plaintiff may not pursue duplicate litigation. 17 “Plaintiffs generally have ‘no right to maintain two separate actions involving the 18 same subject matter at the same time in the same court and against the same defendant.’” 19 Adams v. Cal. Dept. of Health Servs.,

, 688 (9th Cir. 2007), overruled on 20 other grounds by Taylor v. Sturgell,

(2008), (quoting Walton v. Eaton 21 Corp.,

(3d Cir. 1977)). District courts have “discretion to dismiss a 22 duplicative later-filed action, to stay that action pending resolution of the previously filed 23 action, to enjoin the parties from proceeding with it, or to consolidate both actions.”

24 Additionally, duplicative litigation by a plaintiff proceeding in forma pauperis may be 25 dismissed as malicious under

(e). See Cato v. United States,

1103, 1105 n.2 (9th Cir. 1995) (collecting cases). 27 As stated above, the Court is aware that Plaintiff recently filed two lawsuits with 28 1] pauperis in this action and only submitted a complaint in the other. See Rocky I/, at ECF 2| No. 1-1. If Plaintiff did not intend to file two lawsuits, then he must proceed in this earlier- filed lawsuit and should file a notice under Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(i) in his later filed Rocky II 4| lawsuit voluntarily dismissing it. S| Il. CONCLUSION 6 It is therefore ordered that the incomplete application to proceed in forma pauperis 7| (ECF No. 1) is denied without prejudice. 8 It is further ordered that Plaintiff has until December 22, 2025, to file a signed 9} complaint. 10 It is further ordered that Plaintiff has until December 22, 2025, to either pay the 11] full $405 filing fee or file a new and complete application to proceed in forma pauperis 12| with all three required documents: a completed application with the inmate’s two 13] signatures on page 3; a completed financial certificate that is signed both by the inmate 14] and the prison or jail official; and a copy of the inmate’s trust fund account statement for 15] the previous six-month period. 16 The Clerk of the Court is directed to send Plaintiff Raphael Rocco the approved form application to proceed in forma pauperis for and inmate with instructions and the 18] approved form for filing a

complaint with instructions. 19 » 20 DATED: October 21, 2025 a1 UNITED sant JUDGE 22 23 24 25 26 27 28