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D. Minn.Procedural orderFiled Nov. 14, 2022

Rivera v. State of Minnesota

Judge
Katherine Menendez
Docket
0:22-cv-01129
Court
U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
Pages
2
Civil ProcedureFee Petition
In one sentence

In Rivera v. State of Minnesota, Judge Menendez granted appeal fee relief but required Rivera to pay an initial $156.82 installment.

Who this affects

Alveto Rivera must pay an initial partial appellate filing fee of $156.82, with the remainder paid in monthly installments; the State of Minnesota’s position was not addressed in this order.

What happened

In Rivera v. State of Minnesota, Alveto Rivera asked to appeal an earlier dismissal without paying the full appellate filing fee upfront.

The court found that Rivera qualified to proceed without prepaying the entire fee. Because he is a prisoner, that status did not eliminate the fee; it allowed payment in installments.

The court granted Rivera’s applications to proceed without prepaying fees on appeal and required an initial payment of $156.82. Judge Menendez did not decide the merits of the earlier dismissal in this order.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
Rivera v. State of Minnesota · No. 0:22-cv-01129
Judge
Katherine Menendez
Date
Nov. 14, 2022

Background

The court had previously dismissed Alveto Rivera’s case without prejudice after adopting a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation. Rivera sought to appeal that dismissal and filed applications to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), meaning he asked to proceed without paying the full appellate filing fee in advance. He submitted a certified copy of his prison trust-account statement.

Court’s analysis

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915 and the Prison Litigation Reform Act, a prisoner who qualifies for IFP status is not excused from paying the filing fee. Instead, the prisoner may pay the fee in installments rather than all at once. The court reviewed Rivera’s filings and determined that he was entitled to IFP status on appeal.

Ruling

The court granted Rivera’s applications to proceed IFP on appeal. It also ordered him to pay an initial partial appellate filing fee of $156.82, which represented 20% of the average monthly deposits into his trust account during the six months before he filed his notice of appeal. The remaining fee was to be paid in monthly installments under § 1915(b)(2). This order addressed appellate fee payment and did not decide whether the earlier dismissal was correct.

The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
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