Turner v. Lincon-Vitale
- Lewis Liman
- 1:20-cv-05473
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Turner v. Lincon-Vitale, Chief Judge McMahon ordered the incarcerated plaintiff to pay filing fees or submit authorization to proceed without prepayment.
Wilbert K.A. Turner, an incarcerated plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, and the processing of his federal civil action.
What happened
Turner v. Lincon-Vitale concerns an incarcerated plaintiff’s attempt to bring a civil case without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying fees but did not submit the required authorization for deductions from his prison account.
The court ordered Wilbert K.A. Turner, within 30 days, to either pay $400 in fees or submit the prisoner authorization. The court said the case would be processed if he complied and would be dismissed if he did not. No summons would issue at that time.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Turner v. Lincon-Vitale · No. 1:20-cv-05473
- Lewis Liman
- July 27, 2020
Background
Wilbert K.A. Turner, who was incarcerated at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, brought the action without a lawyer. The court explained that a prisoner filing a federal civil action must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or apply to proceed without prepaying fees.
Turner submitted an application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, but did not submit the required prisoner authorization. That authorization permits deductions of the $350 filing fee from the prisoner’s prison trust-fund account in installments and directs the facility to provide certified account statements for the preceding six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepayment under the cited statute.
Order
The court ordered Turner to pay the $400 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization within 30 days of the order. The authorization was to include docket number 20-CV-5473 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail Turner a copy of the order and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time.
The court stated that, if Turner complied, the action would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. The order did not rule on the merits of Turner’s claims.
Appeal and prisoner-filing 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 appeal without prepaying fees. The court also warned that a prisoner action or appeal dismissed as malicious, frivolous, or failing to state a claim may count as a “strike” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). After three strikes, a prisoner generally cannot proceed without prepaying fees in new federal civil actions unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Judge
Chief United States District Judge Colleen McMahon entered the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.