Thompson v. Clay County Sheriffs
- Katherine Menendez
- 0:25-cv-02398
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 2
In Thompson v. Clay County Sheriffs, Judge Menendez granted plaintiff Joshua Thompson permission to appeal without prepaying the full $605 fee, requiring only an initial $6.99 installment.
Prisoner-litigants seeking to appeal federal court dismissals without prepaying appellate filing fees. This order specifically affects Joshua Thompson, who may now proceed with his Eighth Circuit appeal by paying an initial fee of $6.99 rather than the full $605 upfront.
What happened
In Joshua Thompson v. Clay County Sheriffs, et al. (No. 25-cv-2398), prisoner Joshua Thompson asked the court for permission to appeal a prior ruling without paying the full $605 appellate filing fee upfront. The court had previously dismissed Thompson's complaint without prejudice on December 23, 2025. Thompson then filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and sought what is known as 'in forma pauperis' (IFP) status — a legal designation allowing someone who cannot afford court fees to proceed without paying them in full at the outset.
Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995, prisoners who receive IFP status are not entirely excused from paying filing fees. Instead, they are allowed to pay the fee in installments over time. To calculate the initial payment, the court looks at 20% of the average monthly deposits in the prisoner's trust account over the six months before the appeal was filed.
Judge Katherine Menendez granted Thompson's IFP application, finding that his appeal is taken in good faith, though the court noted this does not mean it doubts the correctness of its earlier dismissal. Thompson must pay an initial partial appellate filing fee of $6.99, with the remaining balance of the $605 fee to be paid in monthly installments as required by federal law.
The detailed version
- Thompson v. Clay County Sheriffs · No. 0:25-cv-02398
- Katherine Menendez
- Mar. 6, 2026
Background
Plaintiff Joshua Thompson, a prisoner, previously had his complaint dismissed without prejudice by this court on December 23, 2025. That same order denied his prior applications to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP — the legal mechanism allowing indigent litigants to avoid prepaying filing fees) and his motions to appoint counsel as moot. Thompson then filed a Notice of Appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on February 2, 2026, seeking to challenge the dismissal order. He simultaneously applied for IFP status on appeal to avoid prepaying the $605 appellate filing fee.
Legal Framework
The governing statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1915, part of the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA), permits courts to authorize fee waivers for those who submit an affidavit showing inability to pay and describing the nature of the appeal. Importantly, the PLRA treats prisoner-litigants differently from non-prisoners: a prisoner granted IFP status is not excused from the filing fee altogether but is instead permitted to pay it in installments. Under § 1915(b)(1)(A), the initial partial fee is 20% of the average monthly deposits in the prisoner's trust account over the six months preceding the appeal filing. Remaining amounts are collected in monthly installments under § 1915(b)(2).
The court also considered whether the appeal is taken 'in good faith' under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) and Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 24(a)(3)(A), which is a threshold requirement for granting IFP status on appeal.
Ruling
Judge Menendez granted Thompson's IFP application for appeal. The court found his appeal is taken in good faith, while explicitly noting that granting IFP status does not reflect any doubt about the correctness of the underlying dismissal order. Based on Thompson's trust account records, the court calculated an initial partial appellate filing fee of $6.99 (20% of his average monthly deposits over the prior six months). The remainder of the $605 fee is to be paid in monthly installments pursuant to § 1915(b)(2).
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.