Serrano v. Cabreja
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-07094
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Carlos Serrano v. Cabreja, Judge Swain ordered Serrano to pay filing fees or submit forms to proceed without prepayment.
Carlos Serrano must either pay the required fees or submit the IFP application and prisoner authorization within 30 days for the action to continue processing; the defendants were not required to answer at this stage.
What happened
Carlos Serrano v. Cabreja concerns a civil action filed by Serrano, who is incarcerated at Rikers RNDC and is representing himself. He submitted his complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or the required prisoner authorization.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain gave Serrano 30 days from August 28, 2025, to either pay $405 in fees or submit the completed application and authorization. The authorization would allow installment payments of the $350 filing fee from his prison account. No answer from the defendants was required at that time.
Judge Swain ordered that the case would be processed if Serrano complied and would be dismissed if he did not. The court also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying appeal fees.
The detailed version
- Serrano v. Cabreja · No. 1:25-cv-07094
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 28, 2025
Background
Carlos Serrano filed this civil action without a lawyer. The opinion states that he is incarcerated at Rikers RNDC. He submitted his complaint without paying the filing and administrative fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Fee and IFP Requirements
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $405 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. That request is commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, or IFP. If a prisoner receives IFP status, the $350 filing fee must still be paid in installments deducted from the prisoner's account under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The prisoner authorization directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
Order
Judge Swain ordered Serrano to do one of two things within 30 days of the order: pay the $405 in fees, or submit the attached IFP application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 25-CV-7094 (LTS). The court stated that no answer from the defendants was required at that time. If Serrano complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed period, the action will be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for an appeal. The order additionally warned that certain dismissals of a prisoner's federal action or appeal can count as a statutory “strike.”
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.