In re: Justin Minor
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04530
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In re: Justin Minor, Judge Swain ordered Justin Minor to pay filing fees or submit fee-waiver paperwork within 30 days, warning the action will be dismissed.
Justin Minor, an incarcerated plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer; the civil action will not proceed unless he pays the required fees or submits the required fee-waiver and prisoner-authorization documents within 30 days.
What happened
In re: Justin Minor concerns a civil action filed by Justin Minor, who is incarcerated and is proceeding without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees or providing the required paperwork to ask to proceed without prepaying them.
The court gave Justin Minor 30 days to either pay $405 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow installment deductions from his prison account and require certified account statements for the previous six months. The court said no summons would issue yet and warned that the action will be dismissed if he does not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- In re: Justin Minor · No. 1:25-cv-04530
- Laura Swain
- June 12, 2025
Background
Justin Minor filed a civil action while incarcerated at Rikers Island – West Facility Annex and proceeding without a lawyer. The complaint was submitted without the required filing fees, a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, or a prisoner authorization.
Fee Requirements
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $405—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or submit the documents needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. If that request is granted, the $350 filing fee still must be paid in installments deducted from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization also directs the facility to make those deductions and send the court certified account statements for the preceding six months.
Order and Effect
Within 30 days of the order, Justin Minor must either pay the $405 in fees or submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 1:25-CV-4530 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If he 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 from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not address the merits of the claims. It also cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a statutory “strike” affecting a prisoner’s ability to proceed without prepaying fees in future federal civil actions.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.