Nimmons v. Department of Corrections

Background

Allen Nimmons filed this civil action while incarcerated in the Vernon C. Bain Center and representing himself. He originally filed the complaint with 49 other detainees. A magistrate judge later severed the claims and directed the Clerk of Court to open separate cases for each plaintiff.

Nimmons filed this action without paying the required filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The order explains that a prisoner must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepayment. If that request is granted, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner's account, and the prisoner must authorize those withdrawals and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.

Order

The court ordered Nimmons, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 in fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-10112 (CM). The Clerk of Court was directed to mail him a copy of the order and record service on the docket.

The court stated that no summons would issue at that time. If Nimmons 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 that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the federal prisoner-litigation statute.