Kruppenbacher v. Annucci

Background

Joseph Kruppenbacher filed this action against Anthony J. Annucci and other defendants. The opinion states that Kruppenbacher was incarcerated at Clinton Correctional Facility and 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 filing requirements

The court explained that a prisoner starting 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 and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants that application, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to deduct those payments and provide certified copies of the prisoner’s account statements for the previous six months.

Order

The court ordered Kruppenbacher, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 in fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 20-CV-109 (CM). The Clerk of Court was directed to assign the matter to Judge McMahon’s docket, mail the order to Kruppenbacher, and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time.

The order did not dismiss the action. Instead, it stated that the case would be processed if Kruppenbacher complied and would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the allowed time. Judge COLLEEN McMAHON also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order additionally cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a qualifying dismissal, or “strike,” under the federal prisoner-litigation statute.