Trail v. New York City Dept. of Corrections
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:20-cv-03793
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Trail v. New York City Dept. of Corrections, Judge Schofield ordered Lee Trail to pay fees or submit prisoner authorization within 30 days.
Lee Trail, a prisoner who filed the action without a lawyer, must either pay the required fees or submit the required prisoner authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Trail v. New York City Dept. of Corrections, Lee Trail filed a lawsuit without a lawyer and submitted an application to proceed without paying fees upfront. He did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
The court ordered Trail, within 30 days, either to pay $400 in fees or complete and submit the authorization. The authorization would allow installment deductions from his prison account for the $350 filing fee and require submission of account statements from the previous six months. The court warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal of the action.
Judge Lorna G. Schofield also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the claims in the lawsuit.
The detailed version
- Trail v. New York City Dept. of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-03793
- Lorna Schofield
- May 18, 2020
Background
Lee Trail, who was incarcerated at the Vernon C. Bain Center in the custody of the New York City Department of Correction, brought the action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, but did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Order
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 prepayment of fees. Even if the court grants that request, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires collection of the $350 filing fee in installments from the prisoner's account. The prisoner authorization directs the correctional facility to deduct those payments and provide certified account statements for the preceding six months.
The court ordered Trail to do one of two things within 30 days of the order: pay the $400 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-3793 (LGS). The court stated that the action would be dismissed if he failed to comply. The order also instructed Trail to notify the court in writing if he had been released and to report his new address.
Other Rulings
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not rule on the underlying claims against the New York City Department of Correction.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.