Matthew v. Koos Kent
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-00478
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Matthew Izeh v. Gary Koos Kent, Judge Swain ordered corrected fee paperwork within 30 days or the action will be dismissed.
Matthew Izeh, the incarcerated plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer; the case will not proceed to summons unless he satisfies the court's fee or paperwork requirement.
What happened
Matthew Izeh, who is incarcerated on Rikers Island and is representing himself, sued Gary Koos Kent and other defendants in Matthew Izeh v. Gary Koos Kent, No. 25-CV-478. His submitted prisoner authorization was captioned for a different court.
The court gave Izeh 30 days to either pay $405 in filing and administrative fees or submit a completed application to proceed without paying fees upfront, along with the attached corrected prisoner authorization. The authorization must allow installment deductions for the $350 filing fee and provide certified account statements for the past six months.
No summons will issue yet. If Izeh complies, the case will be processed; if he does not, the action will be dismissed. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Matthew v. Koos Kent · No. 1:25-cv-00478
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 17, 2025
Background
Matthew Izeh filed this civil action while incarcerated on Rikers Island and is proceeding without a lawyer. He submitted a prisoner authorization, which is the form allowing a correctional facility to send account records to the court and deduct filing-fee payments from a prison account. The authorization was captioned for a different court.
Order
The court ordered Izeh, within 30 days of January 17, 2025, to do one of two things:
1. Pay the required $405 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee; or 2. Submit a completed application to proceed in forma pauperis, meaning without prepaying the fees, together with the attached prisoner authorization.
The court explained that a prisoner who receives permission to proceed without prepayment must still pay the $350 filing fee in installments. The prisoner authorization must permit the facility holding Izeh to deduct those payments from his account and send the court certified copies of his account statements for the previous six months. The court also noted that the $55 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted this status. If Izeh submits the application, it should identify docket number 25-CV-478 (LTS).
Disposition
The court did not issue a summons at this time. It stated that the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Izeh complies with the order. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a statutory “strike” for purposes of future prisoner fee applications.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.