Marquez-Ortiz v. United States

Background

Jerylan Marquez-Ortiz filed a civil action against John Doe. The opinion states that Marquez-Ortiz was incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, and was proceeding without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

Required payment or application

The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $400 in fees or submit the required forms to request permission to proceed without prepayment. The $400 consists of a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee. If the court grants the fee-waiver application, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization permits those deductions and requires certified account statements for the previous six months.

The court ordered Marquez-Ortiz, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 20-CV-5793 (CM).

Effect of the order

The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order to Marquez-Ortiz and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. If Marquez-Ortiz 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.

The court certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The court also cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner litigation statute. The opinion notes that Marquez-Ortiz had previously failed to submit similar forms in an earlier case, after which that action was dismissed without prejudice.