Roker v. Nexstar Media Group, Inc.
- Lewis Liman
- 1:24-cv-05004
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Roker v. Nexstar Media Group, Judge Swain ordered the incarcerated plaintiff to pay fees or submit authorization within 30 days.
Damond Julian Roker, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the stated fees or submit the required prisoner authorization within 30 days for the case to proceed.
What happened
In Roker v. Nexstar Media Group, Inc., Damond Julian Roker filed a civil case while incarcerated and asked to proceed without paying the fees upfront. He submitted the required application but not the separate authorization allowing installment payments from his prison account.
The court ordered Roker, within 30 days, either to pay $405 in fees or submit the completed prisoner authorization. The court said no summons would issue yet and warned that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Roker v. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. · No. 1:24-cv-05004
- Lewis Liman
- July 2, 2024
Background
Damond Julian Roker, who the opinion says is incarcerated at Northwest Correctional Complex, brought this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Order
The court explained that a prisoner bringing a civil action must either pay $405 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepayment. Even if that request is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The prisoner authorization permits the facility to deduct those payments and provide certified account statements for the preceding six months.
The court ordered Roker, within 30 days of July 2, 2024, either to pay the $405 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 24-CV-5004 (LTS). The court directed that no summons issue at that time. It stated that, if Roker complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures; if he did not comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and additional warning
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order also warned that certain dismissals of prisoner actions can count as strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), which can limit a prisoner's ability to file future federal civil actions without prepaying fees. The order did not address the merits of Roker's claims.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.