Cannady v. Watson

Background

Vincent Cannady, who is being held at the Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearny, New Jersey, filed this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.

Filing-fee requirements

The court explained that a prisoner proceeding with a civil action must either pay $405 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying the fees. 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 directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and to send the court certified account statements for the previous six months. The $55 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.

Order

The court ordered Cannady, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $405 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 24-CV-9300 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Cannady complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.

The court also certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. The order cautioned that certain future dismissals of prisoner civil actions can count as strikes under the federal prisoner-litigation statute, and that three strikes generally limit a prisoner’s ability to proceed without prepaying fees unless the prisoner faces an imminent danger of serious physical injury.