Crawley v. Department of Corrections
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-09414
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Crawley v. Department of Corrections, Judge McMahon ordered Frank Crawley to pay fees or apply to proceed without prepayment, or face dismissal without prejudice.
Frank Crawley, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the forms to request permission to proceed without prepaying them. If he does not comply within 30 days, the action will be dismissed without prejudice.
What happened
Crawley v. Department of Corrections concerns Frank Crawley, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, who filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them.
The court gave Crawley 30 days from the order’s date to either pay $400 in fees or submit a signed application and authorization allowing installment withdrawals from his prisoner account. The court also directed the Clerk to mail him the order, and no summons was to issue at that time.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered these filing steps and stated that the action will be dismissed without prejudice if Crawley does not comply. She also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees for an appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Crawley v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-09414
- Colleen McMahon
- Nov. 16, 2020
Background
Frank Crawley, who was incarcerated at the Anna M. Kross Center and was representing himself, filed this civil action without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
The order states that Crawley had originally filed the complaint with 49 other detainees. The claims were later separated, and the Clerk’s Office opened a separate case for each plaintiff. This order concerns Crawley’s separate case.
Payment and fee-waiver requirements
The court explained that filing a civil action requires payment of $400: a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee. A prisoner may instead ask to proceed in forma pauperis, meaning without prepaying the fees, by submitting a signed application and a prisoner authorization.
If the court grants that request, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization permits the correctional facility to deduct those payments and provide the court with certified account statements for the prior six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Ruling and disposition
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered Crawley, within 30 days of November 16, 2020, to either pay the $400 in fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 20-CV-9414 (CM).
The court directed the Clerk to mail the order to Crawley at the Anna M. Kross Center and to record service on the docket. The order stated that no summons would issue at that time. If Crawley failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed without prejudice.
The court also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.