Starke v. Fuentes
- Philip Halpern
- 7:25-cv-03108
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Starke v. Fuentes, Judge Swain ordered a prisoner to pay fees or submit authorization before the court considers his emergency request.
Charles Bernard Starke, Jr., a detained prisoner representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit a prisoner authorization before the case and his temporary-restraining-order request can proceed.
What happened
In Starke v. Fuentes, Charles Bernard Starke, Jr., who is detained at Rockland County Jail and is representing himself, filed a civil-rights lawsuit and requested an emergency court order. He submitted an application to proceed without paying the fees upfront but did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
The court ordered Starke, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or submit a signed authorization allowing installment deductions from his prisoner account. The court will not consider his request for a temporary restraining order until he satisfies one of those requirements. If he does not comply, the action will be dismissed.
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain also stated that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying appeal fees. The order did not decide the claims in the lawsuit or the temporary restraining-order request.
The detailed version
- Starke v. Fuentes · No. 7:25-cv-03108
- Philip Halpern
- Apr. 16, 2025
Background
Charles Bernard Starke, Jr., who is detained at the Rockland County Jail, filed this action without a lawyer against Officer Fuentes and other defendants. Along with his complaint, he filed a request for a temporary restraining order, which is an emergency request for immediate court-ordered relief.
Starke submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees, commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis. But he did not submit the required prisoner authorization. That authorization allows the facility holding a prisoner to deduct the filing fee from the prisoner's account in installments and requires submission of certified account statements for the previous six months.
Order
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit the required materials to request permission to proceed without prepayment. If permission is granted, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments; the $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted that permission.
The court ordered Starke to do one of two things within 30 days of the order: pay the $402 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 25-CV-3108 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. The court will not address the temporary restraining-order request until Starke pays the fees or submits the authorization. If he complies, the case will proceed under the Clerk's Office procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Disposition and Significance
This was a procedural order about filing requirements. It did not decide the merits of Starke's claims or his request for a temporary restraining order. The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order also cautioned that certain future dismissals of a prisoner's federal civil actions may count as “strikes” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), which can affect the prisoner's ability to proceed without prepaying fees in later cases.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.