Abbas v. Tate
- John Koeltl
- 1:20-cv-03636
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Abbas v. Tate, Judge McMahon ordered a prisoner to pay fees or submit corrected payment authorization within 30 days.
Samie Abbas was required to pay the filing fees or submit a corrected prisoner authorization within 30 days; the case would be dismissed if he did not comply.
What happened
In Abbas v. Correction Officer Tate, Samie Abbas, who was incarcerated and representing himself, sued Correction Officer Tate. The opinion addresses the filing requirements for his federal civil action, not the claims themselves.
Abbas had submitted an application to proceed without paying fees upfront and a prisoner authorization, but the authorization directed payments to the wrong federal court. Judge McMahon ordered him within 30 days either to pay $400 or submit a corrected authorization labeled with the case number.
The court ordered the Clerk to mail the order and stated that no summons would issue yet. The case would proceed if Abbas complied and would be dismissed if he did not. Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
The detailed version
- Abbas v. Tate · No. 1:20-cv-03636
- John Koeltl
- May 12, 2020
Background
Samie Abbas, who was incarcerated at Mid-State Correctional Facility and proceeding without a lawyer, brought this action against Correction Officer Tate. The complaint had first been filed in the Northern District of New York and was transferred to the Southern District of New York on May 11, 2020.
A prisoner who wants to bring a civil action without paying the filing fees upfront must submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment of fees and a prisoner authorization. If that application is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires installment payments of the $350 filing fee from the prisoner’s account. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a prisoner granted this status.
Order
Abbas submitted an application and authorization, but the authorization allowed deductions from his prison account to be sent to the Northern District of New York rather than the Southern District of New York. The court ordered Abbas, within 30 days of the order, either to pay the full $400 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-3636 (CM).
The Clerk was directed to mail the order to Abbas and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that, if Abbas complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Disposition
The court directed Abbas to correct the filing-fee authorization or pay the fees. It did not decide the underlying claims against Correction Officer Tate. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion cautioned that a future dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a statutory “strike” affecting a prisoner’s ability to proceed without prepaying fees in later cases.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.