Gonzalez v. Hunt
- Philip Halpern
- 7:25-cv-01548
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Gonzalez v. Hunt, Judge Swain ordered the incarcerated plaintiff to pay fees or submit authorization within 30 days.
Dalila Gonzalez and the defendants in her civil action are affected. Gonzalez must either pay the stated fees or submit the required prisoner authorization within 30 days for the case to proceed.
What happened
In Gonzalez v. Hunt, Dalila Gonzalez, who is incarcerated and representing herself, submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees upfront but did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
The court gave Gonzalez 30 days to either pay $405 in fees or submit the authorization, which permits installment deductions from her prison account. The court also said no summons would issue yet.
If Gonzalez does not comply, the action will be dismissed; if she does, the Clerk’s Office will process the case. Judge Swain also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Gonzalez v. Hunt · No. 7:25-cv-01548
- Philip Halpern
- Mar. 4, 2025
Background
Dalila Gonzalez filed this civil action pro se, meaning without a lawyer, while incarcerated at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. She submitted an application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), which asks to proceed without paying court fees upfront. But she did not submit the separate prisoner authorization required for an incarcerated person seeking IFP status.
Order
The court ordered Gonzalez, 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 complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization. The authorization directs the correctional facility to deduct the $350 filing fee from Gonzalez’s account in installments and to send the court certified account statements covering the previous six months. The court instructed her to label the authorization with docket number 1:25-CV-1548 (LTS).
Effect of the Order
No summons will issue at this time. If Gonzalez complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the action under its procedures. If she does not comply within the allowed period, the action will be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.