Garcia v. West Chester District Attorney Office

Background

Jason Garcia filed this civil action without paying the required filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepayment of fees or a prisoner authorization. The order states that Garcia was incarcerated at the Orange County Correctional Facility and was representing himself.

Payment or application requirement

The court explained that a prisoner bringing a civil action must either pay $402—the $350 filing fee and $52 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepayment. If that request is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires collection of the $350 filing fee through installment payments deducted from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified copies of the prisoner’s account statements for the preceding six months.

The court ordered Garcia, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 21-CV-348 (CM).

Order and effect

The court directed the Clerk to mail Garcia a copy of the order and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Garcia complied. If he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.

The court also 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 appeal without prepaying fees. The order further cautioned that a later dismissal of a prisoner’s action as frivolous or for failure to state a claim may count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).