Hunter v. DOJ - US Homeland Security

Background

Jason T. Hunter filed this civil action without a lawyer. The opinion states that he was being held at Treasure Coast Forensic Treatment Center in Indiantown, Florida. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, called an IFP application, or a prisoner authorization.

Fee and filing requirements

The court explained that a prisoner bringing a civil action must either pay the filing and administrative fees or submit the forms required to request IFP status. The opinion first describes the total fees as $402: a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee. It later directs Hunter to pay $400, creating an inconsistency within the order. The order explains that, if IFP status is granted, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The prisoner authorization permits those deductions and requires certified copies of account statements for the prior six months.

Order

Within 30 days of the order, Hunter was required to pay the fees or submit the attached IFP application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 21-CV-1817 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail him the order and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order states that, if Hunter complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures; if he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.

The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order also cautioned that a later dismissal as frivolous or for failure to state a claim could count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). The court did not reach the merits of Hunter's claims against the defendant.