Reinaldo v. United States
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:21-cv-02072
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Reinaldo v. United States, Judge McMahon ordered Roman Reinaldo to pay fees or submit authorization before the case could proceed.
Roman Reinaldo, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, had to pay the required fees or submit a prisoner authorization before the action could proceed.
What happened
Roman Reinaldo filed Reinaldo v. United States while incarcerated and without a lawyer. He asked to proceed without paying the court fees upfront but did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
The court gave Reinaldo 30 days to either pay $402 in fees or submit the authorization. The authorization would allow installment payments of the $350 filing fee from his prisoner account and provide six months of account statements.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the Clerk to mail the order to Reinaldo and said no summons would issue yet. The case would proceed if he complied; otherwise, the action would be dismissed. The court also denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
The detailed version
- Reinaldo v. United States · No. 1:21-cv-02072
- Colleen McMahon
- Mar. 11, 2021
Background
Roman Reinaldo, who was incarcerated at Essex County Correctional Facility, brought this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees, commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Required Filing or Payment
The court explained that a prisoner starting a civil action must either pay $402 in fees or submit the documents required to request permission to proceed without prepayment. The $402 consists of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee. If the court grants the request to proceed without prepayment, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The prisoner authorization permits those deductions and requires certified account statements for the preceding six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepayment.
Order
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered Reinaldo, 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-02072 (CM). The Clerk of Court was directed to mail him a copy of the order and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. If Reinaldo complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk's procedures; if he failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order 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), limiting a prisoner's ability to proceed without prepaying fees after three strikes unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.