Bonie v. Newtown
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-08712
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Bonie v. Newtown, Judge Swain ordered Bonie to pay filing fees or submit forms and denied fee-free status for an appeal.
Nasean Bonie, a self-represented incarcerated plaintiff, must pay the fees or submit the required forms within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Nasean Bonie v. Sergeant Newtown, et al., the court directed Nasean Bonie to either pay the required fees or apply to proceed without paying them in advance.
Bonie submitted the complaint without the fees, a completed application, or authorization for prison-account withdrawals. The court gave him 30 days to pay $405 or submit the required forms. No summons will issue yet, and the order does not decide the claims’ merits.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied Bonie permission to appeal this order without prepaying fees, finding that such an appeal would not be taken in good faith. If Bonie does not comply on time, the action will be dismissed.
The detailed version
- Bonie v. Newtown · No. 1:25-cv-08712
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 28, 2025
Background
Nasean Bonie, who is incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility and is representing himself, filed this civil action without paying the required fees or submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying them. He also did not submit the authorization required from a prisoner for deductions from his account.
Court’s Order
The court ordered Bonie, within 30 days of October 28, 2025, to do one of two things:
- Pay $405 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee; or - Submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees and the prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 25-CV-8712 (LTS).
If the court grants the application, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from Bonie’s prison account. The prisoner authorization permits the facility to make those deductions and requires certified copies of account statements for the previous six months to be sent to the court. The $55 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
No summons will issue at this time. If Bonie 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.
Appeal and Effect
The court certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order also cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner litigation statute. This order addresses filing requirements and does not decide the substance of Bonie’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.