Ager v. Goodell
- Jesse Furman
- 1:25-cv-03630
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Ager v. Goodell, Judge Swain ordered the incarcerated plaintiffs to pay fees or submit required forms within 30 days.
Leon Maurice Ager and Billy F. Larkin, the incarcerated plaintiffs representing themselves in the action.
What happened
In Ager v. Goodell, Leon Maurice Ager and Billy F. Larkin filed a complaint without paying the required fees or submitting applications to proceed without prepaying them. The order states that both plaintiffs are incarcerated and are representing themselves.
The court gave each plaintiff 30 days to either pay $405 or sign and submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization form. The authorization would allow installment payments of the $350 filing fee from the prisoner’s account. No answer was required at that time.
If the plaintiffs do not comply, the action will be dismissed without prejudice. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also stated that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Ager v. Goodell · No. 1:25-cv-03630
- Jesse Furman
- May 5, 2025
Background
Leon Maurice Ager and Billy F. Larkin filed a complaint against Roger Goodell and other defendants. The opinion states that both plaintiffs are incarcerated at Caswell Correctional Center in Blanch, North Carolina, are representing themselves, and signed the complaint.
Fees and required forms
The court explained that a prisoner generally must either pay $405 to begin a civil action—$350 for the filing fee and $55 for the administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees by submitting a signed application and a prisoner authorization. If permission is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to send certified copies of the prisoner’s account statements for the preceding six months.
Neither plaintiff submitted the fees, an application to proceed without prepaying fees, or a prisoner authorization. The court therefore ordered that, within 30 days, the plaintiffs must either pay the $405 fee or each sign and submit the required application and authorization, labeled with docket number 25-CV-3630 (LTS). The court did not decide at this stage whether multiple incarcerated plaintiffs may proceed together without prepaying fees or whether each would owe the full filing fee.
Ruling
The order directs the plaintiffs to pay the fees or submit the required forms within the stated period. It states that no answer is required at this time and that the action will be dismissed without prejudice if the plaintiffs fail to comply. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order notes that certain later dismissals may count as strikes under the federal prisoner-litigation statute, which can restrict a prisoner’s ability to proceed without prepaying fees after three such strikes, subject to an exception for imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.