McLean v. Morton
- Louis Stanton
- 1:20-cv-09925
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In McLean v. Morton, Judge McMahon ordered Marquin McLean to pay filing fees or submit documents to seek fee-free status.
Marquin McLean, who must either pay the required fees or submit the documents needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them.
What happened
In McLean v. Morton, Marquin McLean filed a civil case without a lawyer, but did not submit the required filing fees or completed paperwork to request permission to proceed without paying fees upfront.
The court gave McLean 30 days from December 1, 2020, to either pay $400 or submit a completed application and authorization allowing installment withdrawals from his account. The court also directed the Clerk to mail him the order, and no summons would issue at that time.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered that the case would be processed if McLean complied and would be dismissed if he did not. She also denied fee-free status for any appeal from the order because the appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- McLean v. Morton · No. 1:20-cv-09925
- Louis Stanton
- Dec. 1, 2020
Background
Marquin McLean, who was incarcerated at Bare Hill Correctional Facility, filed this civil action without a lawyer. The complaint did not include the required filing fees, a completed application to proceed without prepaying those fees, or a prisoner authorization.
Payment and fee-free filing requirements
The order 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 application requesting permission to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If that request is granted, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to deduct those payments and provide certified account statements for the previous six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a prisoner granted this fee-free status.
Court’s order
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered McLean to pay the $400 or submit the required application and authorization within 30 days of the order. The documents were to identify docket number 20-CV-9925 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail McLean a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time.
If McLean 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. The order did not decide the underlying claims in the complaint.
Appeal and prisoner-strike 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 fee-free status for an appeal. The order also warned that a prisoner’s case dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a claim can count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). After three strikes, a prisoner generally cannot proceed fee-free in new federal actions unless facing imminent danger of serious physical injury, and must pay the filing fee when filing a new action.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.