Wunner v. Smith

Background

Jonte Andrew Wunner filed a civil action while incarcerated at Sullivan County Jail and proceeded without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

Fee requirements

The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402—the $350 filing fee and $52 administrative fee—or request authorization to proceed without prepaying fees by submitting a signed application and a prisoner authorization. If that application is granted, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified copies of the prisoner's account statements for the prior six months. The court noted that the $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted this fee-waiver status.

Order

The court ordered Wunner, within 30 days of the order, to pay the $402 in fees or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 21-CV-1865 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail him a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that, if Wunner 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 without prejudice.

Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order additionally cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner-litigation statute, and that three strikes generally prevent a prisoner from proceeding without prepaying fees unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.