Ficklin v. Keyser

Background

Terrick Ficklin filed this civil action against Keyser, identified in the caption as Superintendent. The opinion states that Ficklin was incarcerated at Sullivan County Correctional Facility and was representing himself. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or the required prisoner authorization.

Fee and application requirements

The court explained that a prisoner bringing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application, along with a prisoner authorization. If the court grants the application, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s prison trust-fund account. The prisoner authorization permits those deductions and requires certified copies of account statements for the previous six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted this status.

Order

The court ordered Ficklin, within 30 days, to either pay the $400 in fees or submit the completed application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 20-CV-1610 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail the order to Ficklin and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that, if Ficklin complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case under its procedures, but that the action would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the permitted time.

Judge Colleen McMahon certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not address the merits of Ficklin’s underlying claims. It also cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a “strike” under the federal prisoner-litigation statute.