Baxter v. Cash App
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05876
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Baxter v. Cash App, Judge Swain ordered Charles E. Baxter to pay fees or submit prisoner authorization within 30 days.
Charles E. Baxter, who must either pay the required fees or submit the missing prisoner authorization within 30 days to continue the action; Cash App is affected because the case will proceed only if Baxter complies.
What happened
Baxter v. Cash App began when Charles E. Baxter filed a civil action and asked to proceed without paying the filing fees upfront. He submitted the required application but not the separate authorization needed from a prisoner.
The court ordered Baxter, within 30 days, either to pay $405 in fees or submit the prisoner authorization. That authorization would allow installment deductions of the $350 filing fee from his account and provide six months of account statements. The court did not issue a summons or decide the claims against Cash App.
Judge Swain stated that the case would be processed if Baxter complied and would be dismissed if he did not. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Baxter v. Cash App · No. 1:25-cv-05876
- Laura Swain
- July 22, 2025
Background
Charles E. Baxter filed this civil action against Cash App while detained at the West Facility Annex on Rikers Island. He is representing himself. Baxter submitted an application to proceed without prepaying the filing fees, a status commonly called proceeding in forma pauperis, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
The Court’s Order
The court explained that a prisoner starting 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 prepayment and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants the application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to send the court certified account statements covering the previous six months.
The court ordered Baxter that, within 30 days of the order, he must either pay the $405 or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 25-CV-5876 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Baxter complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Other Ruling and Effect
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) 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 dismissals of prisoner actions can count as “strikes” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), potentially affecting a prisoner’s ability to proceed without prepaying fees in later federal civil actions. The court did not rule on the underlying claims against Cash App.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.