Adams v. The People of the State of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-04543
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Adams v. The People, Judge Swain ordered a corrected prisoner authorization or payment of filing fees, without deciding the lawsuit’s claims.
Dimetreus Adams, who must correct his prisoner authorization or pay the required filing fees for the case to proceed.
What happened
In Adams v. The People of the State of New York, Dimetreus Adams filed a civil action without a lawyer while detained at the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island. He asked to proceed without paying the fees upfront.
The court found that Adams’s prisoner authorization was addressed to the wrong federal court and authorized collection of $450 instead of the required $350 filing fee. Within 30 days, he must either pay $405 in fees or submit the attached corrected authorization labeled with the case number. No summons will issue yet, and failing to comply will result in dismissal of the action.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the order directing the correction and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for any appeal from the order. The order did not decide the claims against the defendants.
The detailed version
- Adams v. The People of the State of New York · No. 1:24-cv-04543
- Laura Swain
- June 17, 2024
Background
Dimetreus Adams brought this civil action without a lawyer while detained at the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island. The defendants are The People of the State of New York, the New York Police Department, the New York State Attorney General, and the New York State Comptroller General.
To begin a civil action in federal court, a prisoner must either pay the required fees or request permission to proceed without paying them upfront. The total fee is $405: a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee. If the court grants permission to proceed without prepayment, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account.
The Filing-Related Defect
Adams submitted an application to proceed without prepaying the fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization, however, was addressed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, rather than this court, and it authorized collection of $450 instead of the correct $350 filing fee.
Order
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered Adams, within 30 days of June 17, 2024, to either pay the $405 in fees or complete and submit the attached corrected prisoner authorization. If he submits the authorization, it must identify docket number 24-CV-4543 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Adams complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
The court also certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for that appeal. The order did not address the merits of Adams’s claims or determine whether any defendant was liable.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.