Mascorro v. The City of San Diego, 3:21-cv-01427

Plaintiff Eloy Mascorro, proceeding in forma pauperis (IFP), appealed the District Court’s orders granting defendants’ summary judgment motion, denying his motion for reconsideration, and dismissing the Doe defendants.
Mascorro requested government-paid transcripts for five hearings (two settlement, two discovery, and one status conference) in connection with his appeals.
Plaintiff argued that his IFP status and court requirements justified government payment for these transcripts.
The requested hearings were not directly related to the summary judgment order being appealed, and some (settlement conferences) were not recorded at all.
The court had not received details from Mascorro explaining how these transcripts were necessary for his appeal.
The District Court denied the request for transcript costs at government expense, allowing Mascorro to renew the motion or seek relief in the Ninth Circuit.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Government-paid transcripts	IFP status and appellate court requirement	Not detailed in the order	Denied; insufficient showing of transcript necessity
Necessity of transcripts	Needed for appeal of summary judgment	Not detailed in the order	Denied; hearings not shown as relevant to appeal
Content of Plaintiff's motion	IFP status, financial hardship	Not detailed in the order	Denied; motion lacks specifics tying transcripts to appeal issues
Availability of transcripts	All requested hearing transcripts should be provided	Not detailed in the order	Some hearings were not recorded, so no transcripts exist

McKinney v. Anderson, 924 F.2d 1500 (9th Cir. 1991) (An IFP litigant must show that a transcript is necessary and the appeal is non-frivolous for government payment.)