Potter v. Port Jervis Police Department
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-01794
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Potter v. Port Jervis Police Department, Judge McMahon ordered Potter to pay fees or submit applications to proceed without prepayment.
Donald J. Potter, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the specified IFP application and prisoner authorization within 30 days; otherwise, the action will be dismissed.
What happened
Donald J. Potter, who is incarcerated and representing himself, filed this civil-rights action without paying the required fees or submitting a completed application to proceed without prepayment and a prisoner authorization.
The court ordered Potter, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or submit the required application and authorization. The authorization would allow installment payments of the $350 filing fee from his account. No summons would issue at that time, and failure to comply would result in dismissal of the action.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon entered the order in Potter v. Port Jervis Police Department. She also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Potter v. Port Jervis Police Department · No. 1:21-cv-01794
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 2, 2021
Background
Donald J. Potter, who was incarcerated at Riverview Correctional Facility, brought the action without a lawyer. The opinion states that he filed the complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), meaning without prepaying the filing fees, or a prisoner authorization.
Order
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or request IFP status. If IFP status is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. A prisoner authorization permits those deductions and requires the facility to provide certified account statements for the preceding six months.
The court ordered Potter to do one of two things within 30 days of the order: pay the $402 in fees, or submit the attached IFP application and prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 21-CV-1794 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail Potter a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order states that, if Potter complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures; if he failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and caution
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and therefore denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The court also cautioned that a later dismissal on grounds such as frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), potentially affecting a prisoner's ability to proceed IFP in future actions.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.