Hamilton v. Edwards
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-07108
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Hamilton v. Edwards, Judge McMahon ordered Briyton William Hamilton to pay filing fees or submit forms to seek filing without prepayment.
Briyton William Hamilton and the processing of his civil action; the order required him to pay the fees or submit the required forms before the case could proceed.
What happened
In Hamilton v. Edwards, Briyton William Hamilton, who is incarcerated at Rikers Island and represents himself, filed a civil complaint without paying the required fees or submitting the required forms.
The court gave Hamilton 30 days to pay $400 in fees or submit a signed application and authorization allowing installment payments from his prisoner account. The court said no summons would issue yet and warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal of the action.
Judge Colleen McMahon also denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for any appeal from this order and cautioned that certain later dismissals could count as strikes under federal law.
The detailed version
- Hamilton v. Edwards · No. 1:20-cv-07108
- Colleen McMahon
- Sept. 2, 2020
Background
Briyton William Hamilton, who was incarcerated at Rikers Island, filed this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required filing fees and without completing an application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Payment or application requirement
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. If that request is granted, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization allows those deductions and requires certified copies of account statements for the preceding six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order
The court ordered Hamilton, within 30 days of September 2, 2020, either to pay the $400 in fees or to submit the attached application and prisoner authorization. The forms were to identify docket number 20-CV-7108 (CM). The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Hamilton a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Hamilton complied, and that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed time.
Judge Colleen McMahon certified 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 later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the federal prisoner-litigation statute. This order addressed filing requirements and did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.