Alexander v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04513
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Alexander v. Doe, Judge Swain ordered Craig Alexander to pay fees or submit forms within 30 days before the case proceeds.
Craig Alexander must either pay the required fees or submit the specified fee-waiver and prisoner-authorization forms within 30 days for the action to proceed. The order does not impose a ruling on Doe's liability.
What happened
Craig Alexander filed Alexander v. Doe without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to ask to proceed without paying them upfront. The order states that Alexander is incarcerated and is representing himself.
The court gave Alexander 30 days to either pay $405 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If approved, the filing fee would be collected from his account in installments.
The case will be processed if Alexander complies, but it will be dismissed if he does not. No summons will issue yet, and Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Alexander v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-04513
- Laura Swain
- June 10, 2025
Background
Craig Alexander filed this civil action without paying the required filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The order states that Alexander is incarcerated at the Rikers Island – West Facility Annex and is proceeding without a lawyer.
Filing requirements
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $405 in fees—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), meaning without paying the fees upfront. To request IFP status, a prisoner must submit a signed IFP application and a prisoner authorization. The authorization permits deductions from the prison account to collect the $350 filing fee in installments and requires certified account statements for the prior six months.
Order
The court ordered Alexander, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $405 in fees or submit the IFP application and prisoner authorization. The documents must identify docket number 1:25-CV-4513 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Alexander complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures; if he does not comply within the permitted time, the action will be dismissed.
The court also certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. This order addresses filing and payment requirements; it does not decide the underlying claims against Doe.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.