Martin v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-02262
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Martin v. Doe, Judge Swain ordered Barrington Martin to pay fees or submit forms before the case could proceed.
Barrington Martin must either pay the required fees or submit the specified application and prisoner authorization within 30 days for the action to be processed; the action will be dismissed if he does not comply.
What happened
In Barrington Martin v. Doe, Martin filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying them. The opinion says he is incarcerated and representing himself.
The court gave Martin 30 days to either pay $405 in fees or submit a signed fee-waiver application and a prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow installment deductions from his prison account for the $350 filing fee. No summons would issue at that time, and the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Martin v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-02262
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 20, 2025
Background
Barrington Martin filed this civil action without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The opinion states that Martin is incarcerated at Rikers Island – West Facility Annex and is representing himself.
Court’s Order
The court ordered Martin, within 30 days of the order, to do one of the following:
- Pay $405 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee; or - Submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization.
If the court grants the application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires collection of the $350 filing fee in installments from Martin’s prison account. The prisoner authorization would direct the facility to make those deductions and provide certified copies of Martin’s account statements for the preceding six months. The $55 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
No summons would issue at that time. If Martin complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and Classification
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. The order addressed filing requirements and did not reach the merits of Martin’s claims. It is therefore a procedural order.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.