Broder v. Westchester County Department of Corrections

Background

Justin D. Broder, who is incarcerated at Westchester County Jail, filed this civil action without a lawyer. The opinion states that a prisoner 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.

Broder submitted an IFP application but did not submit the required prisoner authorization. Under the cited federal statutes, the authorization directs the facility holding the prisoner to deduct the $350 filing fee from the prisoner’s account in installments and send the court certified account statements for the previous six months. The $55 administrative fee does not apply to a person who is granted IFP status.

Court’s Order

The court ordered Broder to do one of two things within 30 days of the order: pay the full $405 in fees, or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 25-CV-7360 (LTS). No summons would issue at that time.

The court stated that, if Broder 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. The order did not decide the underlying claims.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order cautioned that certain future dismissals of prisoner cases can count as strikes under the federal prisoner-litigation statute, but it did not state that this case had received a strike.