Morales v. Department of Corrections
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:20-cv-10126
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Morales v. Department of Corrections, Chief Judge McMahon ordered fee, authorization, and signature filings within 30 days or dismissal.
Jonathon Morales’s case was placed on hold pending his payment of the required fees or submission of the required fee-waiver documents and a signed declaration. The defendants were not served with a summons at this stage.
What happened
Morales v. Department of Corrections concerns Jonathon Morales’s newly separated case after he was listed in an amended complaint in an earlier related proceeding. He brought the action without a lawyer, did not pay the required fees or submit completed authorization documents, and did not sign the amended complaint.
The court gave Morales 30 days to either pay $400 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. He must also submit a signed declaration correcting the missing signature on his complaint.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon ordered that no summons issue yet and that the case proceed if Morales complies. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed; the court also denied fee-free status for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Morales v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-10126
- Valerie Caproni
- Dec. 4, 2020
Background
Jonathon Morales brought this action without a lawyer while held in the Vernon C. Bain Center. He had been listed as a plaintiff in an amended complaint in an earlier related proceeding, but he had not paid the fees required to start a federal civil action, submitted a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, filed a prisoner authorization, or signed the amended complaint. A magistrate judge later separated the claims of 13 prisoners into individual actions, including Morales’s claims under this docket number.
Fees and required filings
The court explained that a prisoner 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 and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants that application, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization also directs the facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the prior six months.
The court ordered Morales, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 or complete, sign, and submit the application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 20-CV-10126 (CM).
Signature requirement
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) requires an unrepresented party to personally sign a pleading or other filing. The court ordered Morales, within the same 30-day period, to complete, sign, and submit the attached declaration form to correct his failure to sign the complaint.
Disposition
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk of Court to mail Morales a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that the action would be processed under the Clerk’s procedures if Morales complied, but would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the allowed period. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal from the order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.