Gunn v. Doe

Background

Darrell Gunn filed this civil action against Jane Doe without paying the required filing fees or submitting a completed application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), meaning without prepaying the filing fees. The opinion states that Gunn is incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility and is proceeding without a lawyer.

Payment or IFP requirements

The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or submit an IFP application and a prisoner authorization. If IFP status is granted, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization permits those deductions and requires certified copies of the account statements for the preceding six months to be sent to the court. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted IFP status.

Order and consequences

The court directed Gunn, within 30 days of the order, to pay the $400 or submit the IFP application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-730 (CM). The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order to Gunn and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order states that the action will be dismissed without prejudice if Gunn does not comply within the allowed time.

Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order additionally cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a statutory “strike,” and that three such strikes generally prevent a prisoner from proceeding IFP unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.