Butler v. John/Jane Doe
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:19-cv-11274
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Butler v. John/Jane Doe, Judge McMahon ordered Butler to pay fees or submit forms requesting permission to proceed without paying upfront.
Kenneth Butler, who was required to pay the filing fees or submit the forms needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them; the case could be dismissed if he failed to comply.
What happened
In Butler v. John/Jane Doe, Kenneth Butler filed a civil lawsuit without paying the required fees or submitting a completed application to proceed without paying fees upfront. The order states that Butler is incarcerated and is representing himself.
The court gave Butler 30 days to pay $400 in fees or submit the required application and authorization forms. If he submits the forms, the $350 filing fee would be collected in installments from his prison trust-fund account; the $50 administrative fee would not apply if permission to proceed without upfront payment is granted.
Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk to mail Butler the order and stated that no summons would issue yet. The court warned that it would dismiss the action if Butler did not comply, and denied permission to appeal without paying fees because any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Butler v. John/Jane Doe · No. 1:19-cv-11274
- Colleen McMahon
- Dec. 30, 2019
Background
Kenneth Butler filed this civil action without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying those fees or a prisoner authorization. The opinion states that Butler was incarcerated at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana, and was proceeding without a lawyer.
Payment and application requirements
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 submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants that application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner's trust-fund account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the preceding six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepayment under the cited statute.
Order
The court ordered Butler, within 30 days of the order, either to pay the $400 in fees or submit the application and prisoner authorization using docket number 19-CV-11274 (CM). The Clerk was directed to assign the matter to Judge McMahon's docket, mail Butler a copy of the order, and record that mailing on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that it would process the case under the Clerk's procedures if Butler complied and would dismiss the action if he did not comply within the allowed time.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and therefore denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion further cautioned that a later dismissal as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a claim could count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). The order did not decide the merits of Butler's claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.