Crumbsie v. Officer Warthwood
- Nelson Roman
- 7:25-cv-00229
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
Crumbsie v. Warthwood: Judge Swain ordered payment or fee-waiver paperwork within 30 days before the case could proceed.
Spencer T. Crumbsie, an incarcerated plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, must either pay the stated fees or submit the required paperwork within 30 days for the case to proceed.
What happened
In Spencer T. Crumbsie v. Officer Warthwood, Spencer T. Crumbsie filed a civil case without paying the required fees or submitting the required forms to proceed without prepayment. The order does not address the claims’ substance.
The court gave Crumbsie 30 days to pay $405 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization allows installment deductions from his prison account. No summons would issue at that time, and the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Crumbsie v. Officer Warthwood · No. 7:25-cv-00229
- Nelson Roman
- Jan. 17, 2025
Background
Spencer T. Crumbsie, who the opinion says is incarcerated at Coxsackie Correctional Facility, filed this civil action without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The opinion identifies Crumbsie as proceeding without a lawyer. It does not address the substance of his claims against Officer Warthwood or the other defendants.
Court’s Order
The court ordered Crumbsie, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay $405 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, or submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees and the prisoner authorization. The order explains that a prisoner who receives permission to proceed without prepaying fees must still pay the $350 filing fee in installments deducted from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also requires the facility to send certified copies of the prisoner’s account statements for the past six months.
No summons would issue at that time. If Crumbsie complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed. The court also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Disposition
This is a procedural order concerning filing fees and the requirements for a prisoner seeking to proceed without prepaying fees. It does not decide whether Crumbsie’s claims are legally valid.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.