Hill v. Officer Schlewit
- Kenneth Karas
- 7:25-cv-03530
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Hill v. Officer Schlewit, Judge Swain ordered Hill to pay fees or submit prisoner authorization, or the case would be dismissed.
JOESPH HILL is affected because he must either pay the required fees or submit a prisoner authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action. Officer Schlewit is named as the defendant, but the order does not address the allegations against him.
What happened
In Hill v. Officer Schlewit, JOESPH HILL, who is detained at Westchester County Jail and is representing himself, submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees upfront but did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Judge Swain ordered Hill, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or submit the authorization. The authorization would allow installments of the $350 filing fee to be deducted from his account and would provide the Court with six months of account statements.
The order, signed by Judge Laura Taylor Swain, states that no summons will issue yet and that the action will be dismissed if Hill does not comply. The Court also denied permission to proceed without paying fees for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Hill v. Officer Schlewit · No. 7:25-cv-03530
- Kenneth Karas
- May 1, 2025
Background
JOESPH HILL, who is detained at the Westchester County Jail and is proceeding without a lawyer, filed this civil action and submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees. He did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Court’s analysis
The Court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $402 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $52 for the administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepayment by submitting a signed application and prisoner authorization. If permission is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires payment of the $350 filing fee in installments deducted from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the detention facility to make those deductions and send the Court certified account statements for the previous six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order
The Court ordered Hill to comply within 30 days by either paying the $402 in fees or submitting the prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 25-CV-3530 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Hill complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. The Court certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order also warned that a future dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner litigation statute.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.