DeJesus v. Department of Corrections
- Lewis Liman
- 1:20-cv-09402
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In DeJesus v. Department of Corrections, Judge McMahon ordered payment or an IFP application and warned dismissal for noncompliance.
Christopher DeJesus, a detained plaintiff representing himself, was required to pay the fees or submit the specified application and authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In DeJesus v. Department of Corrections, Christopher DeJesus, who was detained and representing himself, filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the documents needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them.
The court gave DeJesus 30 days to pay $400 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization allowing installment deductions from his account. The court also directed the Clerk to mail him the order, and no summons was to issue at that time.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon ordered these requirements and stated that the action would be dismissed if DeJesus did not comply within the allowed time. She also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- DeJesus v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-09402
- Lewis Liman
- Nov. 18, 2020
Background
Christopher DeJesus filed this civil action while detained at the Vernon C. Bain Center on Rikers Island and while representing himself. The opinion states that he originally filed the complaint with 49 other detainees, after which the claims were separated into individual cases. DeJesus submitted the complaint without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Payment or application requirement
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 submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. If the court grants that application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The prisoner authorization permits withdrawals and requires certified copies of account statements for the preceding six months.
The court ordered DeJesus, within 30 days of the order, to do one of the following: pay the $400 in fees, or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 20-CV-9402 (CM).
Ruling and effect
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk of Court to mail DeJesus a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order states that, if DeJesus complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk's procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and therefore denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), potentially affecting a prisoner's ability to proceed without prepaying fees in future cases.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.