Fate v. The State of New York
- Cathy Seibel
- 7:19-cv-04107
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 7
In Fate v. The State of New York, Judge McMahon conditionally granted filing-fee status, ordered limited service, and required briefing on the prisoner’s three-strikes bar.
Forest L. Fate; the State of New York; the Spring Valley Police Department; the Ramapo Police Department; and the U.S. Marshals Service as to service responsibilities.
What happened
In Fate v. The State of New York, Forest L. Fate, who was incarcerated and proceeding without a lawyer, asked to proceed without paying the full filing fee. The court’s earlier dismissal was sent back for reconsideration after an appeals court changed the rules for counting prior dismissals as strikes.
The court conditionally granted Fate’s request for that fee status only to resolve the three-strikes issue. It ordered service on the State of New York, the Spring Valley Police Department, and the Ramapo Police Department, and directed the parties to brief whether Fate had three qualifying prior cases or appeals. The listed defendants were not required to answer the complaint until that issue was resolved.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the parties to follow a briefing schedule and directed the U.S. Marshals Service to handle service. The order did not decide whether Fate was ultimately barred from proceeding without prepaying the filing fee.
The detailed version
- Fate v. The State of New York · No. 7:19-cv-04107
- Cathy Seibel
- Feb. 10, 2020
Background
Forest L. Fate, who was incarcerated and proceeding without a lawyer, filed this action while requesting permission to proceed without prepaying the full filing fee. The court had previously dismissed the action under the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s “three-strikes” rule, 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). That rule generally prevents a prisoner from proceeding without prepaying the filing fee after three or more prior federal actions or appeals were dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or for failing to state a claim, unless the prisoner faced an imminent danger of serious physical injury.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the earlier judgment and sent the case back for further proceedings in light of its decision in a related case. The appeals court directed the district court to reconsider whether two prior proceedings identified in the earlier bar order qualified as strikes. The district court also directed the parties to address two additional prior proceedings.
Order
The court conditionally granted Fate’s application to proceed without prepaying the filing fee, but only for the purpose of deciding whether the three-strikes rule bars him from doing so. The court did not finally decide that question in this order.
The court directed service on the State of New York, the Spring Valley Police Department, and the Ramapo Police Department for the limited purpose of addressing the three-strikes issue. It ordered the Clerk of Court to issue summonses and provide the necessary documents to the U.S. Marshals Service. The court extended the service deadline until 90 days after the summonses were issued. Fate was also required to notify the court in writing if his address changed.
Briefing and Disposition
The defendants were ordered to file motion papers within 30 days after service. Fate was to respond within 30 days after the defendants filed their papers, and the defendants could file replies within 15 days after that. The defendants were not required to answer the complaint until Fate’s fee status was resolved.
This was a procedural order: it arranged service and briefing and conditionally allowed Fate to proceed for the limited purpose of resolving the fee-status question. It did not decide the underlying claims or finally determine whether Fate had three qualifying strikes. The order was issued by Chief Judge Colleen McMahon.
Read the full 7-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.