Dowling v. Facility

Background

Brendan Dowling filed this civil action while detained at the Rose M. Singer Center on Rikers Island. The opinion states that he is proceeding without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.

Filing requirements

The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $405.00 in fees or request permission to proceed without prepayment. The $405.00 consists of a $350.00 filing fee and a $55.00 administrative fee. If the court grants the fee-waiver application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires collection of the $350.00 filing fee in installments from the prisoner's account. A prisoner authorization permits those deductions and directs the facility to provide certified copies of the prisoner's account statements for the previous six months. The $55.00 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepayment under the statute.

Order

The court ordered Dowling, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the full $405.00 or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 26-CV-5888 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Dowling complies, the Clerk's Office will process the case under its procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed period, the action will be dismissed.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order further cautioned that certain future dismissals of a prisoner's federal civil actions may count as strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). After three such strikes, a prisoner generally cannot proceed without prepaying fees unless an exception for imminent danger of serious physical injury applies.