Fusco v. Westchester County Department of Corrections
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-01943
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Fusco v. Westchester County Department of Corrections, Judge McMahon ordered Christopher Fusco to pay fees or submit prisoner authorization within 30 days.
Christopher L. Fusco, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the prisoner authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal.
What happened
In Fusco v. Westchester County Department of Corrections, Christopher L. Fusco, who was incarcerated and representing himself, filed a civil action after submitting an application to proceed without paying fees upfront.
The court said Fusco had to either pay $402 in fees or submit a signed authorization allowing installment deductions from his account and providing account statements. He had not submitted that authorization, so the court gave him 30 days to do so. No summons would issue yet.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the Clerk to mail Fusco the order and record service. The case would proceed if he complied; otherwise, the action would be dismissed. The court also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Fusco v. Westchester County Department of Corrections · No. 1:21-cv-01943
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 8, 2021
Background
Christopher L. Fusco, who was incarcerated at Westchester County Jail, brought this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Court Fees and Prisoner Authorization
The court explained that filing a civil action ordinarily requires $402: a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee. A prisoner who asks to proceed without prepaying fees must submit a signed application and a prisoner authorization. If the court allows that request, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and send the court certified account statements for the previous six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order
The court ordered Fusco, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 21-CV-1943 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail him a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons would issue at that time. If Fusco complied, the Clerk's Office would process the case; if he did not comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.
Judge Colleen McMahon certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order also cautioned that a later dismissal for being frivolous, malicious, or failing to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner-filing statute.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.