Clark v. Department of Corrections
- Paul Gardephe
- 1:20-cv-09419
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Clark v. Department of Corrections, Judge McMahon gave prisoner James Clark 30 days to pay fees or submit forms, warning dismissal would follow noncompliance.
James Clark, who must either pay the required fees or submit the forms needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them; the action may be dismissed if he does not comply.
What happened
In Clark v. Department of Corrections, James Clark, who was incarcerated and represented himself, filed the action without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them.
The court gave Clark one final opportunity to comply with an earlier order. Within 30 days, he had to pay $400 or submit a completed application and authorization allowing filing-fee payments to be deducted from his prisoner account. The court said no summons would issue yet and warned that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon issued the order on January 20, 2021. She also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Clark v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-09419
- Paul Gardephe
- Jan. 20, 2021
Background
James Clark filed this civil action while incarcerated in the Vernon C. Bain Center and proceeding without a lawyer. The opinion states that he originally filed the complaint with 49 other detainees, and that a magistrate judge later severed the claims and directed the clerk to open separate cases. Clark filed an amended complaint on January 15, 2021.
Clark did not pay the required filing fees and did not submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. An earlier order dated November 17, 2020, had directed him to submit those materials, but he did not comply.
Court’s Order
The court gave Clark a final opportunity to comply. Within 30 days of the order, he had to either pay $400 in fees or submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees and prisoner authorization. The prisoner authorization would allow the court to collect the $350 filing fee in installments from his account and obtain certified copies of his account statements for the previous six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a prisoner granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
The court directed the clerk to mail the order to Clark and note 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 Clark complied, but that the action would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the allowed time.
The court also cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a “strike” under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. Finally, the court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Disposition
The court did not dismiss the action in this order. It ordered payment of the fees or submission of the required forms within 30 days and warned that dismissal would follow noncompliance. Chief Judge Colleen McMahon issued and signed the order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.