Salina v. New York State Unified Court System

Background

Brian Salina filed this civil action without a lawyer. The order states that he is incarcerated at the Eric M. Taylor Center. He submitted his complaint without paying the filing fees and without completing an application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

Required fees and documents

The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $405—the $350 filing fee and $55 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. To make that request, the prisoner must submit a signed application and a prisoner authorization. The authorization permits installment deductions from the prisoner’s account toward the $350 filing fee and requires certified copies of account statements for the previous six months. The $55 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.

Order

Within 30 days of the order, Salina must either pay the $405 in fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 25-CV-5090. No answer from the defendants is required at this time. If Salina complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office’s procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.

Appeal and prisoner-strike warning

Judge Laura Taylor Swain 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 warns that certain future dismissals of a prisoner’s federal civil actions or appeals can count as “strikes,” and that three strikes generally prevent a prisoner from proceeding without prepaying fees unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.