Loving v. Superintendent

Background

Franklin Loving filed this civil action while incarcerated and without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without completing an application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

Fees and required documents

The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $402 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $52 for the administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepayment. If that request is granted, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The prisoner authorization permits those withdrawals and requires certified copies of the prisoner's account statements for the previous six months.

Ruling

Judge Colleen McMahon ordered Loving, within 30 days of January 5, 2021, to either pay the $402 or submit a signed application and prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 20-CV-11135 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail him the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk's procedures if Loving complied and would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed time.

The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. It cautioned that a later dismissal for being frivolous, malicious, or failing to state a claim could count as a qualifying dismissal, or “strike,” under the prisoner litigation statute. The order did not address the merits of Loving's underlying claims.