Martinez v. Trump

Background

Anthony-Adile Martinez filed this civil action while incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility and representing himself. He submitted the complaint without paying the required filing fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

Fee and application requirements

The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—the $350 filing fee plus the $50 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), meaning without prepaying the fees, together with a prisoner authorization. If IFP status is granted, 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 order gives Martinez 30 days from the date of the order to pay the $400 or submit the IFP application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-9651 (CM). The Clerk must mail him a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons will issue at this time. If Martinez complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.

Appeal and filing-strike warning

Chief Judge Colleen McMahon certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and therefore denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The court also cautioned that a prisoner’s dismissal for being frivolous, malicious, or failing to state a claim can count as a “strike.” After three strikes, a prisoner generally cannot file new actions IFP unless under imminent danger of serious physical injury, and must pay the filing fee when filing a new action.

This order addressed filing-fee and application requirements; it did not decide the merits of Martinez’s claims against the defendants.