Cross v. Department of Corrections
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-09481
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Cross v. Department of Corrections, Judge McMahon ordered detained pro se plaintiff Keemal Cross to pay fees or submit forms within 30 days.
Keemal Cross, a detained plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, was required to pay the filing fees or submit the required forms to keep the action moving.
What happened
Cross v. Department of Corrections concerns a complaint filed by Keemal Cross, who was detained at the Robert N. Davoren Center on Rikers Island and was proceeding without a lawyer. He filed the complaint without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request payment by installments.
The court gave Cross 30 days to either pay $400 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without paying the fees upfront and a prisoner authorization. That authorization would allow filing-fee payments to be deducted from his account in installments. The court said the action would be dismissed if he did not comply, and no summons would issue at that time.
Judge Colleen McMahon issued the order on November 13, 2020. The order addressed filing requirements and did not decide the claims in the complaint. It also denied payment-free status for any appeal from the order because the court certified that such an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Cross v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-09481
- Colleen McMahon
- Nov. 13, 2020
Background
Keemal Cross filed this civil action while detained at the Robert N. Davoren Center on Rikers Island and proceeding without a lawyer. The opinion states that Cross had originally filed the complaint with 49 other detainees, but the claims were severed and separate cases were opened. Cross submitted the complaint without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Filing-fee requirements
The court explained that a prisoner bringing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—$350 for filing and $50 for administration—or request authorization to proceed without prepaying fees. If that request is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization directs the detention facility to make those deductions and to provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
The court also stated that each prisoner must pay a full filing fee, particularly because the original joint filing had been divided into multiple cases. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order and disposition
The court ordered Cross, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 in fees or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization. The documents had to identify docket number 20-CV-9481 (CM). The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Cross a copy of the order and record service on the docket.
No summons was to issue at that time. The order states that, if Cross complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed. The court did not rule on the underlying claims. Judge Colleen McMahon 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.
Additional warning
The court 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). After three such strikes, a prisoner generally cannot proceed without prepaying fees unless an exception for imminent danger of serious physical injury applies.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.