Geddes v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04534
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Geddes v. Doe, Judge Swain ordered Joshua Geddes to pay filing fees or submit forms to proceed without prepayment, or face dismissal.
Joshua Geddes, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the specified forms within 30 days for the case to proceed; otherwise, the action will be dismissed.
What happened
In Geddes v. Doe, Joshua Geddes filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request permission to proceed without prepayment. The opinion states that Geddes is incarcerated and is representing himself.
The court gave Geddes 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 payments of the $350 filing fee from his prison account. No summons would issue at that time.
If Geddes does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. If he complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal this order without prepaying fees, finding that such an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Geddes v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-04534
- Laura Swain
- June 17, 2025
Background
Joshua Geddes filed this civil action while incarcerated at the Rikers Island – Rose M. Singer Enhanced Supervised Housing. The opinion states that he is proceeding without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the filing fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Fees and required filings
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $405 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $55 for the administrative fee—or submit the required forms to request permission to proceed without prepayment. The application is commonly called an IFP application, meaning an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees. If the court grants that application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act still requires collection of the $350 filing fee in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
Order
The court ordered Geddes, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $405 in fees or submit the attached IFP application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 1:25-CV-4534 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Geddes complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures; if he does not comply within the time allowed, the action will be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order as Chief United States District Judge. The order does not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.