Peguero v. Department of Corrections
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-02693
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Peguero v. Department of Corrections, Judge McMahon ordered Christopher Peguero to pay fees or submit prisoner authorization within 30 days.
Christopher Peguero, a detained prisoner representing himself, must satisfy the court’s filing-fee or prisoner-authorization requirement before the case can proceed; the Department of Corrections is the named defendant.
What happened
Peguero v. Department of Corrections concerns Christopher Peguero’s attempt to bring a civil case without paying the filing fees in advance. Peguero was detained at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center and was representing himself.
Peguero submitted an application to proceed without prepaying fees but did not submit the required prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow installment payments from his prison account and provide six months of account statements.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered Peguero, within 30 days, either to pay $400 in fees or submit the completed authorization. The court said no summons would issue yet and warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal of the action. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Peguero v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-02693
- Colleen McMahon
- Apr. 2, 2020
Background
Christopher Peguero, who was detained at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island, filed this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Filing-fee requirements
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees by submitting a signed application and prisoner authorization. If the court grants that request, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner’s trust fund account. The authorization also directs the facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order
The court ordered Peguero to pay the $400 in fees or complete and submit the prisoner authorization within 30 days of the order. The authorization was to identify docket number 20-CV-2693 (CM). The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order to Peguero and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. If Peguero complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case under its procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the court stated that it would dismiss the action.
Judge Colleen McMahon also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims in the civil action.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.