Smith v. Miller

Background

Sincere Smith filed the action without a lawyer. To proceed in the court, he had to either pay $400 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying those fees, commonly called an IFP application.

Smith submitted only the first page of the IFP application. He did not submit the second page, so the application was incomplete and unsigned. The opinion also states that his application asking the court to request publicly funded legal counsel was incomplete because he did not submit all of its pages.

Order

The court ordered Smith, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay the $400 in fees or submit an amended IFP application. The amended application had to use docket number 20-CV-8991 (CM) and provide facts showing that Smith could not pay the filing fees.

The court stated that, if it granted the amended IFP application, Smith could proceed without prepaying the fees. The Clerk was directed to mail the order to Smith and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time.

Effect and disposition

The court did not dismiss the action in this order. Instead, it directed Smith to pay the fees or correct his IFP application, and stated that the action would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the allowed time. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. Chief United States District Judge Colleen McMahon signed the order.