Parr v. Baumgardner Law Office

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE VICTORIA A. PARR, 9 Plaintiff, Case No. C24-256 RSM 10 v. ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE BAUMGARDNER LAW OFFICE, et al., 12 Defendants.

14 Plaintiff has filed an application to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) in the above-entitled action. (Dkt. # 1.) In the IFP application, Plaintiff indicates she receives no income, has no money on hand in cash or accounts, owns no valuable property, has no dependents, and incurs no monthly expenses. (Id. at 1-2.) Asked to provide any other information explaining why she cannot pay court fees and costs, Plaintiff wrote “To reimburse[.]” (Id. at 2.)

19 The district court may permit indigent litigants to proceed IFP upon completion of a proper affidavit of indigence. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). “To qualify for in forma pauperis status, a civil litigant must demonstrate both that the litigant is unable to pay court fees and that the claims he or she seeks to pursue are not frivolous.” Ogunsalu v. Nair, 117 F. App’x 522, 523 (9th Cir. 2004), cert. denied, 544 U.S. 1051 (2005). To meet the first prong of this test, a litigant must show that he or she “cannot because of his [or her] poverty pay or give security for the costs and still be able to provide him[ or her]self and dependents with the necessities of life.”

3 Adkins v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., 335 U.S. 331, 339 (1948) (internal alterations omitted).

5 Plaintiff’s application omits information necessary for the Court to determine her ability to pay court fees and costs. Plaintiff does not, for example, inform the Court how she pays for food, shelter, or other basic necessities of life. Plaintiff should not, under these circumstances, be authorized to proceed IFP.

9 Accordingly, Plaintiff is ORDERED to show cause by March 8, 2024, why the Court should not recommend her IFP application be denied. The Clerk is directed to send copies of this Order to Plaintiff and to the Honorable Ricardo S. Martinez.

12 Dated this 1st day of March, 2024.

A 14 MICHELLE L. PETERSON United States Magistrate Judge