Brown v. Urbanski
- Cathy Seibel
- 7:21-cv-00214
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Brown v. Urbanski, Judge McMahon ordered Malik L. Brown to pay fees or submit authorization within 30 days before the case could proceed.
Malik L. Brown and the continuation of his civil action; the order required him to pay the fees or submit the prisoner authorization before the case could proceed.
What happened
In Brown v. Urbanski, Malik L. Brown, who is incarcerated and representing himself, submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees upfront. He did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
The court ordered Brown, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or submit the authorization allowing installment payments from his prison account and providing account statements. The order said no summons would issue at that time.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order to Brown and stated that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply. The court also denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Brown v. Urbanski · No. 7:21-cv-00214
- Cathy Seibel
- Jan. 14, 2021
Background
Malik L. Brown, who was incarcerated and proceeding without a lawyer, filed a civil action against Stephen Urbanski, Issa Yunes, Joseph Deacon, and Mark DelBlanco. Brown submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Required filing or payment
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $402 in fees or submit the documents required to seek permission to proceed without prepayment. The $402 consists of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee. If the court grants permission to proceed without prepayment, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The prisoner authorization directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and send the court certified account statements covering the previous six months.
The court gave Brown 30 days from the date of the order to pay the $402 or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 21-CV-0214 (CM). The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Brown a copy of the order and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time.
Ruling and effect
The order directed Brown to complete one of those requirements before the case could be processed under the Clerk's procedures. It stated that the action would be dismissed if Brown failed to comply within the permitted time. 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.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon signed the order. The opinion also cautioned that certain dismissals of a prisoner's federal civil actions can count as strikes under the federal prisoner-filing statute, although this order did not state that Brown had received a strike.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.