Kruppenbacher v. Annucci
- Vincent Briccetti
- 7:20-cv-00110
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Kruppenbacher v. Annucci, Judge McMahon ordered the incarcerated plaintiff to pay fees or submit forms within 30 days before the case proceeds.
Joseph Kruppenbacher was required to pay the fees or submit the specified forms within 30 days to allow the action to proceed. The order also addressed the Clerk of Court and the correctional facility’s role in processing any authorized installment payments.
What happened
In Kruppenbacher v. Annucci, Joseph Kruppenbacher, who is incarcerated and representing himself, filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request permission to proceed without paying fees upfront.
The court gave him 30 days from January 8, 2020, to either pay $400 in fees or submit a completed application and authorization allowing payments to be deducted from his prison account. The court stated that no summons would be issued at that time.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the Clerk of Court to mail the order to Kruppenbacher and record service. She stated that the case would be processed if he complied and would be dismissed if he did not. She also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Kruppenbacher v. Annucci · No. 7:20-cv-00110
- Vincent Briccetti
- Jan. 8, 2020
Background
Joseph Kruppenbacher filed this civil action while incarcerated at Clinton Correctional Facility. The opinion states that he was proceeding without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Fee and application 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 submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application, together with a prisoner authorization. If the court grants the application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide the court with certified account statements covering the previous six months.
Order
The court ordered Kruppenbacher, within 30 days of January 8, 2020, to either pay the $400 in fees or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 20-CV-0110 (CM). The court stated that, if he complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. The order did not issue a summons at that time.
Chief United States District Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk of Court to assign the matter to her docket, mail Kruppenbacher a copy of the order, and record service on the docket. She certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order also cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a “strike” under the prisoner-filing statute, and that three such strikes generally prevent a prisoner from proceeding 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.