El Dey v. Brann
- Jesse Furman
- 1:20-cv-07208
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In El Dey v. Brann, Judge McMahon ordered a pro se prisoner to pay filing fees or submit papers seeking to proceed without prepaying.
Abdullah Spencer El Dey, who had to pay the fees or submit the required application and authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal; the defendants were not required to respond at this stage.
What happened
In El Dey v. Brann, Abdullah Spencer El Dey filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying them. The opinion says he was detained at the North Infirmary Command on Rikers Island and represented himself.
The court gave El Dey 30 days to either pay $400 in fees or submit the required application and authorization allowing installment payments from his account. The court directed the clerk to mail him the order, and no summons would issue at that time. The order says the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Judge Colleen McMahon also ruled that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims against the defendants.
The detailed version
- El Dey v. Brann · No. 1:20-cv-07208
- Jesse Furman
- Sept. 4, 2020
Background
Abdullah Spencer El Dey filed a civil action against Cynthia Brann, Commissioner of the Department of Correction; Anthony Annucci, Acting Commissioner of the Department of Correction and Community Supervision; and Community Supervision. The opinion states that El Dey was detained at the North Infirmary Command on Rikers Island and proceeded without a lawyer.
A prisoner filing a civil action in the court must either pay $400 in filing and administrative fees or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. To make that request, the prisoner must submit a signed application and an authorization directing the facility to deduct the $350 filing fee from the prisoner's account in installments and provide certified account statements for the previous six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a prisoner granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order
El Dey submitted his complaint without the fees, a completed application, or a prisoner authorization. The court ordered him, within 30 days of September 4, 2020, to do one of two things: pay the $400 in fees, or submit the application and prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 20-CV-7208 (CM).
The court directed the clerk to mail El Dey a copy of the order and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order states that, if El Dey 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.
Appeal and additional warning
Judge Colleen McMahon 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 cautioned that a later dismissal of a prisoner's federal civil action as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a claim could count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). The order did not rule on the merits of El Dey's claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.