Fernandez v. Doe
- Vincent Briccetti
- 7:20-cv-10287
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Jesus Fernandez v. John or Jane Doe, M.D., Judge McMahon ordered payment or fee-waiver paperwork within 30 days, warning the case would be dismissed otherwise.
Jesus Fernandez, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the specified fee-waiver and prisoner-authorization forms within 30 days to keep the action moving.
What happened
Jesus Fernandez filed this civil action against John or Jane Doe, M.D., and others without paying the required fees or submitting the paperwork needed to request a fee waiver. The opinion says Fernandez is incarcerated and representing himself.
The court gave Fernandez 30 days to either pay $400 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without paying fees upfront, along with authorization for installment deductions from his prison account. The court also directed the Clerk to mail him the order, and no summons was issued at that time.
The order warned that the action would be dismissed if Fernandez did not comply. Judge Colleen McMahon also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from the order, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Fernandez v. Doe · No. 7:20-cv-10287
- Vincent Briccetti
- Dec. 8, 2020
Background
Jesus Fernandez filed a civil action without paying the required filing fees or submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees. The opinion identifies Fernandez as incarcerated at Bare Hill Correctional Facility and proceeding without a lawyer.
The court explained that a prisoner filing a federal civil action must either pay $400—the $350 filing fee and $50 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. A prisoner making that request must submit a signed fee-waiver application and a prisoner authorization. If permission is granted, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prison trust-fund account. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted that permission.
Order
The court ordered Fernandez, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things:
1. Pay the $400 in fees; or 2. Complete and submit the fee-waiver application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 1:20-CV-10287 (CM).
The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Fernandez a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order stated that, if Fernandez complied, the action would be processed through the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and prisoner-filing 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 permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The court also cautioned that a prisoner may receive a filing “strike” if a federal civil action or appeal is dismissed as malicious, frivolous, or for failure to state a claim. After three such strikes, a prisoner generally cannot proceed without prepaying fees unless the prisoner alleges imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Disposition
This was an administrative filing-fee and fee-waiver order, not a decision on the merits of Fernandez’s claims. The court did not dismiss the action in this order; it warned that dismissal would follow if Fernandez failed to comply. Judge Colleen McMahon entered the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.