Bonie v. Annucci

Background

Nasean Bonie, who is incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility and is proceeding without a lawyer, filed a civil action against Anthony Annucci, Superintendent Royce, and Ileshema Thomas, also identified as Mimi or Officer Thomas. Bonie submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees and a prisoner authorization.

Court’s Analysis

A prisoner starting a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—$350 for filing and $50 as an administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying those fees. If that permission is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization must allow those deductions and direct the correctional facility to provide certified account statements for the previous six months.

The court determined that Bonie’s authorization was defective because it authorized deductions for payment to the New York State Court of Claims rather than this court and did not state that the amount to be deducted was $350.

Order and Disposition

The court ordered Bonie to do one of two things within 30 days of January 27, 2020: pay the $400 in fees or complete and submit the attached corrected prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-0640 (CM). The court directed the Clerk to mail Bonie a copy of the order, stated that no summons would issue at that time, and said the action would be dismissed if Bonie failed to comply. If he complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. Judge Colleen McMahon signed the order.