Horton v. Ashong
- Laura Swain
- 7:25-cv-06315
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Horton v. Ashong, Chief Judge Swain ordered Anthony Horton to pay fees or submit prisoner authorization before the case proceeds.
Anthony Horton, a self-represented incarcerated plaintiff, must either pay the fees specified in the order or submit the required prisoner authorization for the case to proceed.
What happened
In Horton v. Ashong, Anthony Horton filed a civil action without a lawyer and submitted an application to avoid paying the filing fee upfront. The court said he had not submitted the required prisoner authorization.
The court gave Horton 30 days to either pay the required fees or complete and submit the prisoner authorization, which allows installment payments from his prison account. No summons will issue yet, and the case will be processed if he complies; otherwise, the action will be dismissed.
Chief Judge Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Horton v. Ashong · No. 7:25-cv-06315
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 7, 2025
Background
Anthony Horton, who is incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility, sued Mary Ashong, Dr. Mark Stillman, Billie Tuohy, Susanna Nayshuler, Carol A. Moores, and John Serhan. He is representing himself. Horton submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees upfront, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
What the court ordered
The court explained that a prisoner seeking to proceed without prepaying fees must submit both a signed application and a prisoner authorization. The authorization directs the correctional facility to deduct the filing fee from the prisoner's account in installments and to send the court certified account statements for the previous six months.
Within 30 days of the order, Horton must either pay the fees specified by the court or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 25-CV-6315 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Horton complies, the Clerk's Office will process the case under its procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal and warning
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 proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The court also warned that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). This order addressed filing requirements and did not decide the merits of Horton's claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.