Henley v. Department of Corrections
- Vernon Broderick
- 1:20-cv-09399
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Henley v. Brann, Judge McMahon ordered payment of filing fees or submission of forms to proceed without prepayment.
Carl Henley, an incarcerated plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, had to pay the required fees or submit the specified forms within 30 days to keep the action moving.
What happened
Carl Henley, who was incarcerated and representing himself, filed a civil lawsuit against Commissioner Cynthia Brann and others without paying the required fees or submitting the required forms.
The court gave Henley 30 days to either pay $400 in fees or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees and authorization for installment deductions from his account. The court said no summons would issue yet and warned that failure to comply would lead to dismissal.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon issued the November 16, 2020 order. She also denied fee-free status for any appeal from the order and warned that certain later dismissals could count as strikes under federal prisoner-litigation rules.
The detailed version
- Henley v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-09399
- Vernon Broderick
- Nov. 16, 2020
Background
Carl Henley filed this civil action while incarcerated in the Vernon C. Bain Center and proceeding without a lawyer. The opinion states that he originally filed the complaint with 49 other detainees, and that a magistrate judge had severed the claims and directed the Clerk of Court to open separate cases. Henley submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
What the court required
Under the statutes cited by the court, a prisoner must either pay $400 to file a civil action—$350 for the filing fee and $50 for the administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. A prisoner requesting that permission must submit a signed application and authorize installment deductions of the $350 filing fee from the prison account. The court also explained that the facility must provide certified copies of the prisoner’s account statements for the prior six months.
Ruling
The court ordered Henley, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 in fees or submit the attached application and prisoner-authorization forms. The order directed that the forms be labeled with docket number 20-CV-9424 (CM), although the case caption identifies this action as No. 20-CV-9399 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail the order to Henley and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that, if Henley complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s procedures, and that, if he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The court also cautioned that a prisoner’s later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim may count as a “strike,” and that three such strikes generally prevent a prisoner from proceeding without prepaying fees unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.