Cano v. United States of America/Corporate America
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-09165
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Cano v. United States of America/Corporate America, Judge Swain ordered Cano to pay fees or authorize installments, or face dismissal, and denied appeal-related fee relief.
Christopher Hiram Cano must either pay the required fees or submit the prisoner authorization within 30 days to continue the action. The action will be dismissed if Cano does not comply, and Cano cannot proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal from this order.
What happened
Christopher Hiram Cano v. United States of America/Corporate America, et al. concerns Cano’s attempt to continue a civil case without paying the filing fees upfront. Cano filed the case without a lawyer and had not submitted the required prisoner authorization form.
The court had earlier dismissed the case without prejudice after Cano did not update the address on file. The court later granted reconsideration, vacated that dismissal and the related judgment, and reopened the case. It then directed Cano to either pay $402 or submit a completed and signed authorization allowing payments from a prison account.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered Cano to comply within 30 days. No summons will issue yet, and the action will be dismissed if Cano does not comply. The court also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Cano v. United States of America/Corporate America · No. 1:21-cv-09165
- Laura Swain
- June 26, 2024
Background
Christopher Hiram Cano filed this civil action without a lawyer on November 4, 2021. The opinion states that Cano was detained at the Robert N. Davoren Center on Rikers Island. To proceed without paying court fees upfront, a prisoner must submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment of fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization permits prison officials to send account records to the court and deduct the filing fee from the prisoner’s account in installments.
Cano filed the action without a prisoner authorization form. On April 5, 2022, the court ordered Cano to submit a completed and signed authorization within 30 days. The order was mailed to Cano’s address of record and was returned to the court marked, “Inmate DISC xSH 3/30.” On August 31, 2022, the court ordered Cano to update the address on file and warned that failure to do so could lead to dismissal for failure to prosecute. After receiving no response, the court dismissed the action without prejudice on October 5, 2022.
On August 18, 2023, Cano filed an amended complaint with attachments and a motion asking the court to reconsider the dismissal. Cano asserted that Cano had not failed to prosecute and that defendants had interfered with Cano’s efforts to communicate with the court. On January 17, 2024, the court granted reconsideration, vacated the dismissal and civil judgment, and directed the Clerk of Court to reopen the case.
Order
Because Cano still had not complied with the April 5, 2022 order, the court directed Cano, within 30 days, to either pay the $402 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization. If Cano submits the authorization, it must identify docket number 21-CV-9165 (LTS). The order states that no summons will issue at that time. If Cano does not comply within the allowed period, the action will be dismissed.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. The opinion does not decide the merits of Cano’s underlying claims.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.