Felix v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05168
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Felix v. Doe, Judge Swain ordered Felix to pay filing fees or submit required forms within 30 days, or the case will be dismissed.
David Felix, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, and the processing of his civil action.
What happened
David Felix filed Felix v. Doe without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request permission to pay later. The order concerns those filing requirements, not the underlying claims.
The court gave Felix 30 days to either pay $405 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without paying the fees upfront and a prisoner authorization. If approved, the $350 filing fee would be collected from his account in installments.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that no answer was required yet and that the case would proceed through the Clerk’s Office if Felix complied. She stated that failing to comply would result in dismissal and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Felix v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-05168
- Laura Swain
- June 24, 2025
Background
David Felix, who is incarcerated at West Facility Annex on Rikers Island, filed this civil action without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The opinion states that Felix is representing himself.
Order
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $405 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $55 for the administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If the application is granted, the $350 filing fee must be collected from the prisoner’s account in installments. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
Within 30 days of the order, Felix must either pay the $405 or submit the required application and authorization, labeled with docket number 25-CV-5168 (LTS). No answer from the defendant is required at this stage. If Felix complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures; if he does not, the action will be dismissed.
Other Ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied Felix permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order also cautioned that certain dismissals of prisoner lawsuits may count as strikes under federal law, and that three strikes can limit a prisoner’s ability to file future federal civil actions without prepaying fees, subject to the stated exception for imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.