Heffley v. FCI Otisville
- Louis Stanton
- 1:20-cv-05811
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Heffley v. FCI Otisville, Judge McMahon ordered Travis Heffley to pay fees or submit forms to proceed; failure would lead to dismissal.
Travis Heffley, the incarcerated plaintiff, was required to pay the fees or submit the required application and authorization within 30 days for the action to proceed.
What happened
In Heffley v. FCI Otisville, Travis Heffley, who was incarcerated and representing himself, filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request permission to proceed without paying upfront.
The court gave Heffley 30 days to either pay $400 or submit a completed application and authorization allowing installment payments from his prisoner account. The order explained that the filing fee would be collected in installments if permission to proceed without prepayment was granted.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon directed these steps and said no summons would issue yet. She stated that the case would be processed if Heffley complied and would be dismissed if he did not; the court also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Heffley v. FCI Otisville · No. 1:20-cv-05811
- Louis Stanton
- July 28, 2020
Background
Travis Heffley, who was incarcerated at FCI Otisville and proceeded without a lawyer, filed a civil action without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Fee and authorization requirements
The order explained that a prisoner bringing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or submit an application to proceed without prepayment of fees. If that application 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 directs the facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the preceding six months.
Ruling and effect
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon ordered Heffley, within 30 days, to either pay the $400 or submit the required application and prisoner authorization. The forms were to identify docket number 20-CV-5811 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail the order to Heffley and record service. No summons was to issue at that time. If Heffley 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. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
Additional caution
The order warned that a later dismissal of a prisoner's federal civil action as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a claim can count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). After three strikes, a prisoner generally cannot proceed without prepaying fees unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.