Garcia v. Thomas
- George Daniels
- 1:21-cv-00636
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Garcia v. Thomas, Judge McMahon ordered Daniel Garcia to pay fees or submit forms before the case could proceed.
Daniel Garcia, a prisoner representing himself, had to pay the required fees or submit the documents needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them. The defendants were not yet required to respond because no summons issued.
What happened
Garcia v. Thomas concerns a civil-rights lawsuit filed without a lawyer by Daniel Garcia, who was being held in Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward. He submitted his complaint without paying the required fees or completing the forms needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them.
The court gave Garcia 30 days from January 25, 2021, to either pay $402 in fees or submit a signed application and authorization allowing installment payments from his prisoner account. The court directed the Clerk to mail him the order, and no summons was to issue at that time.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered that the case would be processed if Garcia complied and would be dismissed if he did not comply within the deadline. She also denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal from this order and warned that certain future dismissals could count as strikes under federal law.
The detailed version
- Garcia v. Thomas · No. 1:21-cv-00636
- George Daniels
- Jan. 25, 2021
Background
Daniel Garcia, proceeding without a lawyer, filed this action against Thomas, a correctional officer; Guerra, a captain; Joseph, a correctional officer; and Blatz, an assistant ward department employee. The opinion states that Garcia was being held in Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward. He filed the complaint without paying the filing and administrative fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or the required prisoner authorization.
Requirements to Proceed
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 submit the documents required to request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. If that request is granted, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The prisoner authorization allows the facility to make those deductions and requires certified account statements for the previous six months to be sent to the court. The opinion also notes that the $52 administrative fee does not apply when a person is granted that status.
Order and Disposition
The court ordered Garcia, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 or submit a signed application and prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 21-CV-0636 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail Garcia a copy of 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 if Garcia complied and that it would dismiss the action if he failed to comply within the allowed time. The opinion does not state that the action was dismissed at that point.
Judge Colleen McMahon certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. The court also cautioned that a future federal civil action dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the federal prisoner-litigation statute. Three such strikes generally prevent a prisoner from proceeding without prepaying fees in later federal civil actions, subject to the statutory exception for imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.