Plummer v. Department of Corrections

Background

Orlando Plummer filed this action while incarcerated at the Vernon C. Bain Center and proceeding without a lawyer. The caption lists Commissioner Cynthia Brann and other defendants. The opinion states that Plummer had originally filed the complaint with 49 other detainees; a magistrate judge severed the claims and directed the Clerk of Court to open separate cases.

Required filing payment or application

The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants that application, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepayment.

Plummer had submitted the complaint without the fees, a completed application, or a 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-9489 (CM).

Ruling and consequences

Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order to Plummer and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s procedures if Plummer complied, but that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed time.

The court 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 proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order did not decide the merits of Plummer’s underlying claims.