White v. Gutwein
- Nelson Roman
- 7:20-cv-04532
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In White v. Gutwein, Judge McMahon ordered a corrected prisoner authorization or $400 payment within 30 days before the case could proceed.
Mike White was required to correct his prisoner authorization or pay the required fees before the action could proceed; the case was not dismissed by this order.
What happened
In White v. Gutwein, Mike White, who is incarcerated and representing himself, submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees upfront and a prisoner authorization.
The authorization allowed deductions from his prison account to be sent to the Eastern District of New York instead of this court. The court ordered White within 30 days either to pay $400 or submit a corrected authorization labeled with this case’s docket number.
Judge McMahon directed that no summons issue yet and said the case would be processed if White complied. If he did not comply, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling. The court also denied permission to proceed without fees on appeal.
The detailed version
- White v. Gutwein · No. 7:20-cv-04532
- Nelson Roman
- June 15, 2020
Background
Mike White, who was incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility and proceeded without a lawyer, filed this civil action against Eric Gutwein and other defendants. White submitted an application asking to proceed without prepaying court fees and a prisoner authorization.
Court-fee requirements
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or submit the required documents to request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. If permission is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
White’s authorization, however, directed the deductions to the Eastern District of New York rather than the Southern District of New York. The court ordered White, within 30 days of the order, either to pay the $400 in fees or complete and submit the attached corrected authorization using docket number 20-CV-4532 (CM).
Ruling
Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order to White and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. If White complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order additionally warned that a later 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 future cases.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.