Mercado v. New Windsor NY P.D. 12553
- Colleen McMahon
- 7:19-cv-11843
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Mercado v. New Windsor NY P.D. 12553, Judge McMahon ordered Mercado to pay fees or submit forms to proceed without prepayment.
Matthew Louis Mercado, a prisoner representing himself in the civil action, must either pay the required fees or submit the required forms within 30 days to avoid dismissal.
What happened
Matthew Louis Mercado sued New Windsor NY P.D. 12553 and others while held at the Orange County Jail. The case was filed without the required fees or completed forms, and Mercado was representing himself.
The court gave Mercado 30 days to either pay $400 or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization allows installment payments of the $350 filing fee from a prison trust account. The court also noted that the submitted authorization allowed withdrawal of $400 instead of the required $350 filing fee.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the Clerk to send Mercado the order and issue no summons for now. She said the case would proceed if Mercado complied and would be dismissed if he did not; she also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Mercado v. New Windsor NY P.D. 12553 · No. 7:19-cv-11843
- Colleen McMahon
- Jan. 3, 2020
Background
Matthew Louis Mercado filed this civil action while held at the Orange County Jail. The opinion states that he proceeded without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without the required filing fees, a completed application to proceed without prepayment of fees, and an appropriate prisoner authorization.
Filing-fee requirements
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $50 for the administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. For a prisoner granted that permission, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires collection of the $350 filing fee in installments from the prison trust account. The prisoner authorization also directs the facility to send the court certified account statements for the previous six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
The opinion notes that Mercado had submitted a prisoner authorization allowing disbursement of $400, rather than the required $350 filing fee.
Ruling
The court ordered Mercado, within 30 days of January 3, 2020, to either pay the $400 in fees or submit the completed application and prisoner authorization. The filings were to identify docket number 19-CV-11843 (CM). The Clerk was directed to assign the matter to Judge Colleen McMahon’s docket, mail Mercado a copy of the order, and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. If Mercado complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
The court certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The court also cautioned that a later dismissal as malicious, frivolous, or for failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner litigation statute, and that three strikes generally prevent a prisoner from filing future federal civil actions without prepaying fees unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.