Myers v. Deputy O'Banner
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05644
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Myers v. Deputy O’Banner, Judge Swain ordered Gregory P. Myers to pay fees or submit prisoner authorization within 30 days.
Gregory P. Myers’s civil action is affected because it will not proceed under the stated procedures unless he pays the fees or submits the required prisoner authorization within 30 days.
What happened
Myers v. Deputy O’Banner concerns Gregory P. Myers’s civil action against Deputy O’Banner and other defendants. Myers is incarcerated and filed the action without a lawyer.
Myers submitted an application to proceed without paying fees in advance, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow installment payments from his prison account and provide account statements from the past six months.
The court ordered Myers to pay $405 or submit the authorization within 30 days, labeled with the case number. Judge Swain directed that no summons issue yet and stated that the action will be dismissed if Myers does not comply; the court also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Myers v. Deputy O'Banner · No. 1:25-cv-05644
- Laura Swain
- July 14, 2025
Background
Gregory P. Myers, who is incarcerated at Sullivan County Jail, filed this civil action without a lawyer against Deputy O’Banner and other defendants. The opinion does not address the underlying claims.
A prisoner filing a federal civil action must either pay the required fees or ask to proceed without prepaying them. The total fees listed in the order are $405: a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee. If the court grants permission to proceed without prepayment, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The $55 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted that status.
Myers submitted an application to proceed without prepaying fees, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization. That authorization directs the facility holding him to deduct the filing fee in installments and send the court certified copies of his account statements for the past six months.
Order
The court ordered Myers, within 30 days of July 14, 2025, either to pay the $405 in fees or submit the completed prisoner authorization. The authorization must be labeled with docket number 1:25-CV-5644 (LTS).
No summons will issue at this time. The case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Myers complies. The order states that the action will be dismissed if he does not comply within the allowed time. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order cautioned that certain dismissals of prisoner actions can count as “strikes” under federal law, but it did not make such a dismissal here.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.