Greene v. Ninneman
- John Tunheim
- 0:14-cv-03458
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 5
In Greene v. Ninneman, Judge Leung required a $12 initial filing payment, allowed installments, and granted Greene’s motion to continue the case.
Guy Israel Greene must pay a $12 initial partial filing fee within 21 days and, if he continues the case, the remaining balance of the $350 filing fee through installments deducted from his trust account. His motion to prosecute was granted.
What happened
In Greene v. Ninneman, the court decided that Guy Israel Greene qualified as a “prisoner” under the federal filing-fee law because he was detained while accused of criminal offenses in Minnesota state court. The court therefore ruled that Greene must pay the $350 filing fee in installments, even if he proceeds without paying the entire fee upfront.
The court set Greene’s initial partial payment at $12, based on his trust-account records. He had to pay it within 21 days before the summons would issue. If he did not pay, the court would recommend dismissing the case without prejudice for failure to prosecute. The court also said officials could deduct later payments from his account regardless of whether he ultimately succeeded in the lawsuit.
The court granted Greene’s motion to prosecute and said the case would not be dismissed for failure to prosecute at that point. The order was signed by United States Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung.
The detailed version
- Greene v. Ninneman · No. 0:14-cv-03458
- John Tunheim
- Oct. 5, 2022
Background
Guy Israel Greene, a client of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, applied to proceed without paying the full filing fee upfront. The court considered whether Greene was a “prisoner” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915, part of the Prison Litigation Reform Act. Under that statute, a prisoner who is allowed to proceed without prepaying the fee must still pay the full filing fee in installments.
The court explained that people detained under civil statutes are generally not “prisoners” under § 1915(h). Greene was different because, when he started this case, he was detained while accused of criminal offenses in Minnesota state court. The court therefore concluded that he met the statutory definition of “prisoner” and that the installment-payment requirements applied.
Filing-fee ruling
The total statutory filing fee was $350. Greene’s account records showed average monthly deposits of $60 and an average monthly balance of $30 during the six months before he filed the case. Because the deposits were greater, the court applied the statutory formula—20 percent of the larger amount—and set the initial partial filing fee at $12.
The court ordered Greene to submit the $12 payment within 21 days. The action would not go forward until that initial payment was made, and the summons would not issue before then. The remaining balance of the $350 fee would be collected through later installments from Greene’s trust account. The court stated that these deductions would occur regardless of whether Greene succeeded in the action.
The order did not dismiss the case. It stated that, if Greene failed to pay the initial fee within 21 days, the court would recommend dismissal without prejudice for failure to prosecute.
Motion to prosecute and disposition
Because the case had previously been stayed for a substantial period, Greene had been directed to state whether he intended to continue prosecuting it. Greene responded with a motion not to dismiss the action. The court found that a formal motion was unnecessary but accepted it as showing his intent to continue.
The court ordered that the action would not be dismissed for failure to prosecute and granted Greene’s motion to prosecute. It separately ordered Greene to pay the $12 initial partial filing fee within 21 days, warning that failure to do so would lead to a recommendation of dismissal without prejudice for failure to prosecute.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.