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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled Sept. 22, 2020

Rosa v. Brann

Judge
Colleen McMahon
Docket
1:20-cv-07780
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
2
Civil ProcedurePro Se
In one sentence

In Rosa v. Brann, Judge McMahon ordered Eric Rosa to pay filing fees or submit required forms, warning that noncompliance would lead to dismissal.

Who this affects

Eric Rosa, who must either pay the required fees or submit the required forms within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action; the underlying claims against Cynthia Brann were not decided.

What happened

Rosa v. Brann concerns Eric Rosa’s civil action, which he filed without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepayment. The opinion states that Rosa was incarcerated and represented himself.

The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $400 in fees or submit a signed application and authorization allowing installment payments from his account. Rosa had submitted neither the payment nor the completed forms.

The court gave Rosa 30 days to comply and stated that the action would be dismissed if he did not. No summons would issue at that time, and Judge Colleen McMahon denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
Rosa v. Brann · No. 1:20-cv-07780
Judge
Colleen McMahon
Date
Sept. 22, 2020

Background

Eric Rosa filed a civil action against Cynthia Brann. The opinion states that Rosa was incarcerated at the North Infirmary Command on Rikers Island and was proceeding without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the filing fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

Fees and required forms

The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $50 for the administrative fee—or submit an application to proceed without prepayment of fees and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants that application, the $350 filing fee must be collected through installment deductions from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted this status.

Order

The court ordered Rosa, within 30 days of the order, either to pay the $400 or submit the required application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-7780 (CM). The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Rosa a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that, if Rosa complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s procedures, and that, if he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.

Judge Colleen McMahon also 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 order did not decide the underlying claims against Brann.

The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
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