Yung v. City of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-05182
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Yung v. City of New York, Judge Swain ordered John Yung to pay fees or submit forms within 30 days, or face dismissal.
John Yung and the further processing of his civil action; the action may be dismissed if he does not pay the fees or submit the required forms within the stated time.
What happened
Yung v. City of New York is a civil action brought by John Yung, who is detained at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island and is representing himself. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees or filing the forms needed to request permission to proceed without paying fees upfront.
The court ordered Yung to do one of two things within 30 days: pay the filing fees or submit a completed application and authorization allowing payments to be deducted from his account. The opinion describes the fees as $405 in one section but later directs him to pay $402. No summons will be issued at this time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain said the case would be processed if Yung complied with the order and would be dismissed if he did not. She also denied permission to proceed without paying fees for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Yung v. City of New York · No. 1:24-cv-05182
- Laura Swain
- July 11, 2024
Background
John Yung filed this civil action against the City of New York and other defendants while detained at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island. He is proceeding without a lawyer. The opinion states that his complaint was originally submitted as a letter in an earlier closed case and was opened as a new civil action by court order.
A prisoner who wants to bring a civil action in the district court must either pay the required filing fees or request permission to proceed without paying the fees upfront. That request is called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, or IFP. A prisoner seeking IFP status must also file a prisoner authorization permitting deductions from the prisoner's account and requiring certified account statements for the previous six months.
The Court's Order
Yung submitted the complaint without the fees, a completed IFP application, or a prisoner authorization. The court ordered him, within 30 days of July 11, 2024, either to pay the fees or to submit the attached IFP application and prisoner authorization. The forms were to identify docket number 24-CV-5182 (LTS).
The opinion first explains that the fees are $405: a $350 filing fee plus a $55 administrative fee. It later directs Yung to pay $402. The opinion does not explain this difference. It also states that the $55 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted IFP status.
No summons will issue at this time. The court stated that, if Yung complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal and Prisoner-Filing Warning
The court certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The court also cautioned that a later dismissal of a prisoner's federal civil action as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a claim can count as a statutory “strike,” and that three such strikes can restrict a prisoner's ability to file future federal civil actions without prepaying fees, subject to the exception stated in the opinion.
Disposition
This is a procedural order concerning payment of filing fees and the required IFP paperwork. It does not decide the underlying claims against the defendants.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.