Curry v. Black
- Gregory Woods
- 1:24-cv-04603
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Curry v. Black, Chief Judge Swain ordered John Curry to pay $405 or submit an application to proceed without prepayment within 30 days.
John Curry, whose case must meet the court’s filing-fee or fee-waiver requirement before it can proceed. The order also concerns the named defendants because the action may be dismissed if Curry does not comply.
What happened
In Curry v. Black, John Curry challenged a parole officer’s finding that he violated parole, which led to his detention on Rikers Island. He had not paid the fees to start the case or submitted an application to proceed without prepayment, and he was no longer incarcerated.
The court ordered Curry to pay $405 or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without prepayment within 30 days. Because he had been released, he did not need to submit a prisoner authorization. The court said the case would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the order on August 28, 2024. The order addressed only payment or fee-waiver requirements and did not decide the challenge to Curry’s parole violation determination.
The detailed version
- Curry v. Black · No. 1:24-cv-04603
- Gregory Woods
- Aug. 28, 2024
Background
John Curry, proceeding without a lawyer, brought a new civil action challenging his parole officer’s determination that he violated parole and was detained on Rikers Island. He did not pay the fees required to begin the action and did not ask to proceed without prepaying them.
The court had previously directed Curry to pay $405 or submit an application to proceed without prepayment, along with a prisoner authorization. The Clerk’s Office mailed that order and the forms to his Rikers Island address. Curry later filed a change-of-address form stating that he was no longer in custody and currently resided in the Bronx, New York.
Court’s analysis
The court explained that an incarcerated plaintiff generally must pay $405—the $350 filing fee and $55 administrative fee—or submit an application asking to waive prepayment of the $350 filing fee. If the application is granted, the filing fee is still collected from the plaintiff’s prison account in installments.
Because Curry was no longer incarcerated, the court concluded that the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s prison-account payment system could not be extended after his release. The court therefore stated that Curry could either pay the full $405 or have his ability to pay evaluated under the rules applicable to a non-incarcerated plaintiff. A prisoner authorization was not required.
Ruling
The court directed Curry, within 30 days of the order, to complete, sign, and submit the attached application to proceed without prepayment or, alternatively, pay the $405 fee. If the application is granted, Curry may proceed without prepaying the fees. If he fails to comply, the action will be dismissed. The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal. The order did not resolve the merits of Curry’s challenge to the parole violation determination.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.