Pearson v. Department of Corrections
- Vernon Broderick
- 1:20-cv-09482
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Pearson v. Brann, Judge McMahon ordered Lester Pearson to pay filing fees or submit forms within 30 days before the case proceeds.
Lester Pearson was required to pay the filing fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization within 30 days; failure to comply would result in dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Lester Pearson v. Commissioner Cynthia Brann, et al., Pearson, 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 the fees upfront.
The court gave Pearson 30 days to pay $400 in fees or submit a completed application and authorization allowing installment payments from his prisoner account. The court also directed the Clerk to mail him the order, and said no summons would issue yet. If Pearson did not comply, the action would be dismissed.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon entered the order on November 16, 2020. She also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Pearson v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-09482
- Vernon Broderick
- Nov. 16, 2020
Background
Lester Pearson, who was incarcerated and proceeding without a lawyer, filed this civil action without paying the required filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying those fees or a prisoner authorization. The opinion states that Pearson had filed the complaint with 49 other detainees and that the claims were later separated into individual cases.
Court’s order
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $50 for the administrative fee—or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants the application, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
The court ordered Pearson, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 or submit the completed application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 20-CV-9482 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail Pearson a copy of the order and record 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 Pearson complied and that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed time.
Other ruling and warning
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. The order also warned that a later dismissal as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a claim could count as a “strike” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), affecting a prisoner’s ability to proceed without prepaying fees after three such strikes.
Disposition
This was an administrative and procedural order directing payment of fees or submission of the required forms. It did not decide the underlying claims in Pearson’s complaint.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.