Reed v. Department of Corrections
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-09490
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Reed v. Department of Corrections, Chief Judge McMahon ordered payment or a fee-waiver application before the case could proceed.
Paul Reed, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, was required to pay the fees or submit an IFP application and prisoner authorization within 30 days for his case to proceed.
What happened
In Reed v. Department of Corrections, Paul Reed, who was incarcerated and representing himself, filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the paperwork needed to request a fee waiver. The court noted that his claims had been separated from a filing involving 49 other detainees.
The court gave Reed 30 days to either pay $400 or submit a signed application to proceed without paying the fees upfront, along with authorization for deductions from his prison account. The court said that no summons would issue yet and that the case would be processed if he complied; otherwise, the action would be dismissed.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also stated that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Reed v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-09490
- Colleen McMahon
- Nov. 30, 2020
Background
Paul Reed filed this civil action while incarcerated and without a lawyer. He filed the complaint with 49 other detainees. The opinion states that a magistrate judge had separated the claims and directed the Clerk of Court to open a separate case for each plaintiff.
Reed submitted the complaint without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), meaning without prepaying the fees. He also did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Fee and IFP Requirements
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or submit a signed IFP application and a prisoner authorization. If IFP status is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires collection of the $350 filing fee in installments from the prisoner's account. The prisoner authorization permits the facility to make those deductions and requires certified copies of the prisoner's account statements for the preceding six months to be sent to the court.
Order
The court ordered Reed, within 30 days of the order's date, to either pay the $400 in fees or submit the attached IFP application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-9490 (CM). The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Reed a copy of the order and note service on the docket.
No summons was to issue at that time. The order states that, if Reed complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and Warning
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The court 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), which limits a prisoner's ability to file future actions without prepaying fees after three such strikes, unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Nature of the Ruling
This order addressed filing fees and IFP paperwork. It did not decide the merits of Reed's claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.