Pagan v. Department of Corrections
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-09415
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Pagan v. Brann, Chief Judge McMahon ordered Frank Pagan to pay fees or submit forms to proceed and denied appeal fee status.
Frank Pagan, who was required to pay the fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Pagan v. Commissioner Cynthia Brann, et al., Frank Pagan filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them. The opinion states that Pagan was incarcerated and represented himself.
The court ordered Pagan, within 30 days, either to pay $400 in fees or submit a signed application and prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow installment deductions from his account for the $350 filing fee. The court stated that no summons would issue at that time and that the action would be dismissed if Pagan did not comply.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk to mail the order to Pagan and denied fee-free status for any appeal from the order, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not itself dismiss the action.
The detailed version
- Pagan v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-09415
- Colleen McMahon
- Nov. 16, 2020
Background
Frank Pagan 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 opinion states that Pagan was incarcerated in the Vernon C. Bain Center and represented himself. It also states that Pagan originally filed the complaint with 49 other detainees, and that a magistrate judge severed the claims and directed the Clerk to open separate cases.
Fee and application requirements
The court explained that a prisoner bringing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees by submitting a signed application and prisoner authorization. If permission 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 correctional facility to make those deductions and provide 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.
Order
The court ordered Pagan to do one of two things within 30 days of the order: pay the $400 in fees, or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-9415 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail Pagan a copy of the order and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that, if Pagan complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon 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 purposes of an appeal. The opinion also cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), and explained the three-strikes limitation on later fee-free prisoner filings.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.