Rosa v. Doe
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-07799
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Rosa v. Doe, Judge McMahon ordered Rosa to pay fees or submit forms within 30 days, warning the action could be dismissed without prejudice.
Juan Rosa, a self-represented incarcerated plaintiff, must either pay the required fees or submit the required forms within 30 days to continue the action.
What happened
In Rosa v. Doe, Juan Rosa, 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 case had originally been filed with claims by other Rikers Island detainees before the court separated the claims.
The court gave Rosa 30 days to either pay $400 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow the court to collect the $350 filing fee from his account in installments if permission were granted. The court also directed the Clerk to mail the order to Rosa, and no summons would issue at that time.
Judge McMahon ordered Rosa to meet one of those requirements within the 30-day period and stated that the action would be dismissed without prejudice if he did not. The court also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Rosa v. Doe · No. 1:20-cv-07799
- Colleen McMahon
- Oct. 1, 2020
Background
Juan Rosa, who was incarcerated at the North Infirmary Command and proceeding without a lawyer, brought this civil action against John/Jane Doe. Rosa originally filed the matter with claims by other detainees on Rikers Island under a different docket number. In an earlier order, the court separated the detainees’ claims and directed the Clerk of Court to open separate cases, including this one.
Filing-fee requirements
The court explained that a prisoner starting a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $50 for the administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. To make that request, the prisoner must submit a signed application and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants permission to proceed without prepaying fees, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
Rosa submitted his complaint without paying the fees and without submitting a completed application or prisoner authorization. The court ordered him, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 or submit the required forms labeled with docket number 20-CV-7799 (CM).
Order and disposition
The court directed the Clerk to mail Rosa a copy of the order and record service on the docket. It stated that no summons would issue at that time. The court further stated that if Rosa failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed without prejudice. The court did not decide the underlying claims against John/Jane Doe.
The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner litigation statute, but this order itself did not make such a dismissal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.