Traylor v. Minnesota Dept of Corrections
- Tony Leung
- 0:24-cv-01275
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 3
In Traylor v. Minnesota Dep’t of Corrections, Magistrate Judge Leung allowed fee-waiver status, ordered service steps, and denied counsel without prejudice.
Rayco DelShaune Traylor must complete and return service forms, pay the remaining $342.65 filing fee, and proceed without appointed counsel for now. The named defendants may be served, and defendants who do not return service waivers without good cause may have to pay service costs.
What happened
In Rayco DelShaune Traylor v. Minnesota Dep’t of Corrections, the court granted Traylor permission to proceed without paying the full filing fee upfront. It required him to complete service forms for each defendant and pay the remaining $342.65 filing fee through deductions required by federal law.
The court directed the Clerk and the U.S. Marshals Service to pursue service of the lawsuit on the defendants in their personal and official capacities and on the State of Minnesota. It warned that failing to return the service forms within 30 days could lead to a recommendation that the case be dismissed without prejudice for failure to prosecute.
Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung denied Traylor’s request for appointed counsel without prejudice. The court said Traylor had presented his claims clearly and that it was too early to determine whether the facts or law would become too complex for him to proceed without a lawyer.
The detailed version
- Traylor v. Minnesota Dept of Corrections · No. 0:24-cv-01275
- Tony Leung
- July 11, 2024
Background
Rayco DelShaune Traylor filed this action against the Minnesota Department of Corrections and other defendants. The opinion is an order addressing filing-fee status, service of process, and Traylor’s request for appointed counsel. It does not decide the underlying claims.
Rulings and required steps
The court granted Traylor’s application to proceed without prepaying the full filing fee. It required him to complete a U.S. Marshals Service Form USM-285 for each defendant and return the forms within 30 days of the order. If he does not do so, the court stated that it will be recommended that the case be dismissed without prejudice for failure to prosecute.
After receiving the completed forms, the Clerk must seek waivers of service from the defendants sued in their personal capacities under Rule 4(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The U.S. Marshals Service must serve the State of Minnesota and the agents sued in their official capacities under Rule 4(j). A defendant who fails without good cause to return a service waiver may be required to pay the later costs of service.
The court also ordered Traylor to pay the unpaid $342.65 balance of the statutory filing fee through the payment process required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2), and directed the Clerk to notify the authorities at the institution where he is confined.
Request for counsel
The court denied Traylor’s motion for appointment of counsel without prejudice. It explained that an unrepresented person in a civil case does not have an automatic statutory or constitutional right to appointed counsel. The court found that Traylor had presented his claims with reasonable clarity and that, at this early stage, it could not determine whether the claims would become factually or legally complex enough to require counsel. The court stated that it would reconsider whether counsel is appropriate if circumstances later warrant it.
Effect of the order
This order allows the case to proceed through the required filing-fee and service steps, but it does not resolve the merits of Traylor’s claims. The request for counsel may be renewed or reconsidered because the denial was without prejudice.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.