McKenzie v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05997
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In McKenzie v. Doe, Judge Swain ordered Cecil McKenzie to pay $405 or submit forms within 30 days, while denying fee-free status for an appeal.
Cecil McKenzie, a detained self-represented plaintiff, must either pay $405 or submit the required fee-waiver application and prisoner authorization within 30 days, or the action will be dismissed. The order also affects any appeal by denying fee-free status for that appeal.
What happened
Cecil McKenzie filed McKenzie v. Doe without paying the required fees or submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees. The order says McKenzie is detained at the West Facility Annex on Rikers Island and is representing himself.
The court gave McKenzie 30 days from August 4, 2025, to either pay $405 or submit a signed fee-waiver application and prisoner authorization. No summons will issue yet. If McKenzie complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case; if he does not, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The order does not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- McKenzie v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-05997
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 4, 2025
Background
Cecil McKenzie filed this civil action against DOE without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The opinion states that McKenzie is currently detained at the West Facility Annex on Rikers Island and is proceeding without a lawyer.
Fees and required forms
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $405—the $350 filing fee plus a $55 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants the fee-waiver application, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization also directs the detention facility to deduct those payments and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
Order
The court ordered McKenzie, within 30 days of August 4, 2025, to either pay the $405 in fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 25-CV-5997 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If McKenzie complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office’s procedures. If McKenzie does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal and classification
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The order does not address the merits of McKenzie’s claims. It also cautions that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner litigation statute, but it does not make such a dismissal here.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.