In re: Jayson De La Rosa

Nature of the order

This is a procedural order about the fees and paperwork required to begin a federal civil case. It does not decide the underlying claims.

Background

Jayson De La Rosa filed the complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The order states that he is currently incarcerated at the Rikers Island–West Facility Annex and is representing himself.

What the court required

Within 30 days after the order, De La Rosa must either:

- pay $405, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee; or - submit the court’s application to proceed without prepaying fees and a signed prisoner authorization.

If the court grants the fee-waiver application, the $350 filing fee will still be collected in installments from his prison account. The $55 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees. The prisoner authorization also directs the facility to provide certified account statements for the previous six months and deduct the required payments.

Other rulings

No summons will issue at this time. If De La Rosa 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 an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order also cautioned that certain future dismissals could count as strikes under the prisoner-litigation statute, but it did not determine that this case is such a dismissal.

Ruling

Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed De La Rosa to pay the fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization within 30 days. The order does not decide whether his underlying claims have merit.