Gilberti v. Bush
- Louis Stanton
- 1:24-cv-07851
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Gilberti v. Bush, Judge Swain ordered payment or fee paperwork within 30 days and denied fee-free status for any appeal.
Joseph D. Gilberti must either pay the required fees or submit the required paperwork within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action. The underlying defendants are not affected by a decision on the merits because the court did not reach the claims.
What happened
In Gilberti v. Bush, Joseph D. Gilberti filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the paperwork needed to request permission to proceed without paying fees upfront. The order states that Gilberti is incarcerated and representing himself.
The court gave Gilberti 30 days to either pay $405 in fees or submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow the filing fee to be deducted from his prison account in installments. No summons will issue at this time. If Gilberti does not comply, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying appeal fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Gilberti v. Bush · No. 1:24-cv-07851
- Louis Stanton
- Oct. 23, 2024
Background
Joseph D. Gilberti filed this civil action without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The order states that Gilberti is currently incarcerated at Sarasota County Jail and is representing himself.
Fee requirement
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $405—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or submit the required documents to request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. If that request is granted, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner's account under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The prisoner authorization directs the facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the prior six months.
Ruling
The court ordered Gilberti, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $405 in fees or submit the attached fee-waiver application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 24-CV-7851 (LTS). No summons shall issue at this time. The order states that if Gilberti fails to comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. This order did not address the merits of Gilberti's underlying claims.
Classification
This is a procedural order because it addresses filing fees and required prisoner paperwork rather than deciding the underlying claims.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.