Gunn v. Annucci
- Colleen McMahon
- 7:19-cv-10039
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Gunn v. Annucci, Judge McMahon ordered Darrell Gunn to pay filing fees or submit a prisoner authorization, or the action will be dismissed.
Darrell Gunn, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the prisoner authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Gunn v. Annucci, Darrell Gunn, who is incarcerated and representing himself, submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees upfront. He did not submit the required authorization allowing payments to be deducted from his prison account.
The court gave Gunn 30 days to either pay $400 in fees or submit the prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments; the $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk of Court to assign the case, mail the order to Gunn, and record service. No summons will issue yet. The court said it will dismiss the action if Gunn does not comply and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
The detailed version
- Gunn v. Annucci · No. 7:19-cv-10039
- Colleen McMahon
- Nov. 20, 2019
Background
Darrell Gunn, who is incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility and is proceeding without a lawyer, filed this civil action against Anthony J. Annucci and other defendants. Gunn submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Court’s Order
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepayment of fees. If that request is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires collection of the $350 filing fee through installments deducted from the prisoner’s prison trust-fund account. The prisoner must therefore authorize those deductions and provide certified copies of account statements for the preceding six months.
The court ordered Gunn, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization. The authorization must identify docket number 19-CV-10039 (CM).
Disposition
Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk of Court to assign the case to her docket, mail Gunn a copy of the order, and note service on the docket. The court ordered that no summons issue at that time. It stated that, if Gunn complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed time, the court will dismiss the action. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the merits of Gunn’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.