Spooner v. New York City Department Of Corrections
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-00365
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Spooner v. New York City Department Of Corrections, Judge Swain ordered Ruth K. Spooner to pay fees or submit forms to proceed without prepayment.
Ruth K. Spooner must either pay $405 or submit the required fee-waiver application and prisoner authorization within 30 days; failure to comply will result in dismissal of the action.
What happened
Spooner v. New York City Department Of Corrections was brought by Ruth K. Spooner, who is incarcerated and represented herself. The complaint was submitted without the required filing fees or completed forms requesting permission to proceed without paying fees upfront.
The court ordered Spooner, within 30 days, either to pay $405 in fees or submit a signed application and authorization allowing installment payments from the prison account. The court said no answer was required yet and warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal of the action.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying appeal fees. The order did not address the claims’ merits.
The detailed version
- Spooner v. New York City Department Of Corrections · No. 1:25-cv-00365
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 17, 2025
Background
Ruth K. Spooner, who is currently incarcerated at Rose M. Singer Center, filed this civil action without a lawyer. Spooner submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Fee requirements
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $405—the $350 filing fee and $55 administrative fee—or submit the required application and authorization. If the court permits the prisoner to proceed without prepaying fees, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to provide certified account statements for the past six months and deduct the required payments.
Order
The court directed Spooner to pay the $405 in fees or submit the completed application and prisoner authorization within 30 days of the order. The documents must identify docket number 1:25-CV-0365 (LTS). No answer was required at that time. The court stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Spooner complied, but that the action would be dismissed if Spooner did not comply within the allowed time.
The court also certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. This order addressed filing requirements and did not decide the merits of Spooner’s underlying claims.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.