Reid v. City of New York
- George Daniels
- 1:20-cv-00644
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Reid v. City of New York, Judge McMahon ordered Cedric Reid to explain why he should receive filing-fee relief despite three prior strikes.
Cedric Reid’s request to proceed without paying the filing fee is affected. The order requires him to submit a declaration within 30 days and states that failure to respond or to make the required showing would lead to denial of that request, dismissal without prejudice, and a bar on future fee-free federal actions while he is a prisoner. The order does not decide the constitutional allegations against the defendants.
What happened
Reid v. City of New York concerns Cedric Reid’s request to file without paying the filing fee. Reid is a prisoner who brought the case without a lawyer and alleged constitutional-rights violations by the defendants.
The court found that Reid had accumulated three qualifying dismissals under the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s three-strikes rule. The court also found that he had not alleged facts showing he faced an immediate danger of serious physical injury when he filed the case.
Judge Colleen McMahon gave Reid 30 days to submit a sworn declaration explaining why the three-strikes rule should not apply. The court did not yet deny his filing-fee application or dismiss the case; it stated that those actions would follow if Reid failed to respond or failed to make the required showing. The court also denied filing-fee status for an appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Reid v. City of New York · No. 1:20-cv-00644
- George Daniels
- Feb. 14, 2020
Background
Cedric Reid, a prisoner at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, filed this action without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying the filing fee. He alleged that the defendants violated his constitutional rights on various dates between September 23, 2016, and September 17, 2019.
Three-strikes rule
The Prison Litigation Reform Act contains a rule commonly called the three-strikes provision. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), a prisoner generally may not proceed without paying the filing fee if, on three or more prior occasions while incarcerated or detained, the prisoner brought a federal action or appeal that was dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a claim. The exception is when the prisoner was in immediate danger of serious physical injury when the case was filed.
The court found that Reid had three qualifying strikes based on prior related proceedings. The opinion identifies those dismissals as including dismissals for failure to state a claim and one dismissal as legally frivolous. The court also found that Reid did not allege facts suggesting that he was in immediate danger of serious physical injury when he filed this action. The court noted that a danger that had ended before filing would not satisfy the exception.
Order to show cause
Because the court’s decision was unfavorable to Reid, it gave him notice and an opportunity to respond before making a final decision. The court granted Reid leave to submit a declaration within 30 days explaining why he should not be barred under § 1915(g). A declaration form was attached for his convenience.
Disposition
This order directs Reid to show cause; it does not yet deny his application to proceed without paying the filing fee or dismiss the action. The court stated that, if Reid did not respond or could not make the required showing, it would deny his filing-fee application, dismiss the action without prejudice, and bar him from filing future actions without paying the filing fee while he remains a prisoner. The court separately certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied filing-fee status for purposes of an appeal. Judge Colleen McMahon signed the order.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.