Cabral v. Department of Corrections
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-10116
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Cabral v. Department of Corrections, Chief Judge McMahon ordered plaintiff to pay fees or submit forms within 30 days, warning dismissal for noncompliance.
Victor Cabral, whose case must satisfy the court’s filing-fee or fee-waiver requirements before it proceeds; the action will be dismissed if he does not comply within 30 days.
What happened
Victor Cabral brought Cabral v. Department of Corrections while incarcerated and without a lawyer. The court said he had not paid the required fees or submitted the forms needed to request permission to proceed without paying fees upfront.
The court gave Cabral 30 days to pay $400 or submit a signed application and authorization allowing installment payments from his prison account. The court said the case would be processed if he complied and would be dismissed if he did not.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk to mail the order to Cabral, ordered that no summons issue yet, and denied permission to appeal without paying fees because the appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Cabral v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-10116
- Colleen McMahon
- Dec. 4, 2020
Background
Victor Cabral, who was incarcerated at the Vernon C. Bain Center, brought this action without a lawyer. The opinion states that he had signed an amended complaint in an earlier related proceeding involving 13 detainees. A magistrate judge later separated the claims of those detainees into individual cases, and Cabral’s claims proceeded under this docket number.
Cabral had not paid the required filing fees and had not submitted a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The court explained that the total fee for filing a civil action is $400: a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee. If a prisoner is allowed to proceed without prepaying fees, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account.
Order
The court ordered Cabral, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay the $400 in fees, or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow installment deductions from his account and require certified copies of account statements for the previous six months. The court directed that any submitted forms identify docket number 20-CV-10116 (CM).
The court directed the Clerk to mail Cabral a copy of the order and record service on the docket. It ordered that no summons issue at that time. The order states that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Cabral complied, but that the action would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the allowed period.
Ruling and Effect
Chief United States District Judge Colleen McMahon did not decide the underlying claims in this order. She also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion further cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the federal prisoner-litigation statute, but it did not make such a finding in this order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.