Kirschbaum v. Sorc D.J. Decker

Background

George Kirschbaum, who is incarcerated at Mohawk Correctional Facility, originally filed a complaint without a lawyer in a prior related proceeding in the Northern District of New York. That court allowed him to proceed without prepaying the filing fee. It later separated the claims concerning events at Woodbourne Correctional Facility and transferred them to the Southern District of New York because Woodbourne is in Sullivan County, within that district. The transferred claims became this separate civil action, No. 25-CV-6117.

Filing-fee requirements

The Southern District had previously explained that Kirschbaum had to pay another $350 filing fee or submit a new application to proceed without prepaying fees, along with a new prisoner authorization. The court explained that such status does not eliminate the filing fee for a prisoner; it allows the prisoner to avoid paying the fee upfront, with the $350 collected in installments from the prison trust account under the Prison Litigation Reform Act.

Kirschbaum wrote to the court asking why money was being deducted from his account in the earlier related proceeding and why this court required new documents. The court directed him to its earlier order and repeated that the Northern District would continue collecting the fee for the case pending there, while this separate action required its own fee or application.

Ruling

Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain granted Kirschbaum an extension of time to comply with the earlier order. Within 30 days of the September 3, 2025 order, he had to submit payment of $405 in fees, with an explanation of what the fees were, or submit a newly completed and signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a new prisoner authorization. The documents had to identify civil docket number 25-CV-6117 (LTS).

The court stated that, if Kirschbaum submitted the documents and was granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees in this case, another $350 filing fee would be deducted incrementally from his prison trust account. If he did not want to proceed, he could decline to submit the documents or notify the court that he wished to withdraw. In either event, the court stated that it would dismiss this action without prejudice, and that the $350 fee for this action would not be deducted. The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.