Terry v. Stamford
- Jesse Furman
- 1:20-cv-03847
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Terry v. Stamford, Judge McMahon ordered the prisoner plaintiff to pay fees or submit a corrected authorization before the case proceeds.
Duwayne L. Terry was required to pay the fees or submit a corrected prisoner authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Terry v. Stamford, Duwayne L. Terry, who is incarcerated and represents himself, asked to bring a civil case without prepaying court fees. He submitted the required application and authorization, but the authorization did not clearly allow collection of the filing fee from his prison account.
The court gave Terry 30 days to either pay $400 in fees or submit a completed prisoner authorization directing deductions of the $350 filing fee from his account. The court also directed the Clerk to mail him the order, said no summons would issue yet, and warned that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Judge Colleen McMahon denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for any appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Terry v. Stamford · No. 1:20-cv-03847
- Jesse Furman
- May 19, 2020
Background
Duwayne L. Terry, who is incarcerated at Washington Correctional Facility and is proceeding without a lawyer, filed this civil action. A prisoner who wants to proceed without prepaying court fees must submit a signed application and a prisoner authorization. The authorization permits the court to collect the $350 filing fee in installments from the prisoner’s account and requires the facility to provide certified account statements for the preceding six months.
Terry submitted an application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. The court found that the authorization did not state that the court could collect the $350 filing fee from his prison account.
Order
The court ordered Terry, within 30 days of May 19, 2020, to do one of two things: pay the total $400 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee, or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization. If he submitted the authorization, it had to identify docket number 20-CV-3847 (CM).
The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Terry a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons would issue at that time. The order stated that, if Terry complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and Additional Warning
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 proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. The court also cautioned that a prisoner’s dismissal for being frivolous, malicious, or failing to state a claim can count as a “strike” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), and that three strikes generally prevent a prisoner from proceeding without prepaying fees unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Disposition
This was a procedural order about the filing-fee and prisoner-authorization requirements. Judge Colleen McMahon did not decide the merits of Terry’s underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.