Veal v. Macy's Cross County
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-04859
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Veal v. Macy’s Cross County, Judge Swain ordered Ralph Veal to pay filing fees or submit prisoner authorization within 30 days.
Ralph Veal and the filing of his civil action against Macy’s Cross County and the other named defendants.
What happened
In Veal v. Macy’s Cross County, Ralph Veal filed a civil action while incarcerated and asked to proceed without paying fees upfront. He submitted the required application but not the separate authorization needed for a prisoner’s account deductions.
The court gave Veal 30 days to either pay $405 in fees or complete and submit the prisoner authorization. The order 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 permission to appeal without paying fees, ruling that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. The order did not address the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Veal v. Macy's Cross County · No. 1:24-cv-04859
- Laura Swain
- July 5, 2024
Background
Ralph Veal, who the opinion says was incarcerated at Westchester County Jail, brought this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Filing requirements
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $405 in fees—$350 for filing and $55 for administration—or request permission to proceed without prepayment. If the court grants that request, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization allows the facility holding the prisoner to provide certified account statements for the previous six months and deduct the required payments.
Order
Within 30 days of the order, Veal must either pay the $405 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 24-CV-4859 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Veal complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures; if he does not comply within the permitted time, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the merits of Veal’s claims.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.