Mercado v. Orange County Legal Aid Society Inc.
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:19-cv-11904
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Mercado v. Orange County Legal Aid Society, Judge McMahon ordered Mercado to pay fees or submit corrected forms before the case could proceed.
Matthew Louis Mercado, a self-represented prisoner filing a civil action, had to pay the required fees or submit corrected forms within 30 days for the case to proceed.
What happened
In Mercado v. Orange County Legal Aid Society Inc., Matthew Louis Mercado filed a civil case without paying the required fees or completing an application to proceed without paying them upfront. He submitted a prisoner authorization, but it incorrectly allowed the court to collect $400 from his account.
The order gave Mercado 30 days to either pay the $400 in fees or submit the required application and corrected prisoner-authorization forms. The case would be processed if he complied, but the action would be dismissed if he did not. The court also directed the Clerk to mail him the order, and no summons would issue yet.
Judge Colleen McMahon also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Mercado v. Orange County Legal Aid Society Inc. · No. 1:19-cv-11904
- Colleen McMahon
- Jan. 3, 2020
Background
Matthew Louis Mercado filed this civil action while detained in the Orange County Jail and represented himself. He submitted the complaint without paying the required filing fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application.
A civil action ordinarily requires $400 in fees: a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee. A prisoner who is allowed to proceed without prepaying fees must still pay the $350 filing fee in installments deducted from the prisoner's account. The prisoner must submit a signed IFP application and a prisoner authorization directing the facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted IFP status.
Mercado submitted a prisoner authorization, but it incorrectly stated that the court could collect $400 from his account.
Order
The court ordered Mercado, within 30 days, to either pay the $400 in fees or submit the attached IFP application and prisoner-authorization forms. The forms were to be labeled with docket number 19-CV-11904 (CM). The Clerk was directed to 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 Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed. The order did not address the merits of Mercado's claims.
Appeal and Classification
Judge Colleen McMahon certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order also cautioned that a later dismissal as frivolous or for failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the federal prisoner-litigation statute. This is a procedural order because it addressed filing-fee and application requirements rather than deciding the underlying dispute.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.