Iglesias v. Vance

Background

Davis Iglesias filed this civil action without a lawyer while detained at SCI Camp Hill in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees and a prisoner authorization. Under the authorization process, a prisoner permits deductions from the prison account to pay the filing fee in installments and permits the facility to provide certified account statements for the prior six months.

Problem with the Authorization

Iglesias’s authorization directed the deductions to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, rather than to the Southern District of New York, where this case was filed. The order states that a civil action requires either payment of $402—$350 for the filing fee and $52 for the administrative fee—or an approved application to proceed without prepayment. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted that status.

Order

Judge McMahon ordered Iglesias, within 30 days of March 19, 2021, either to pay the $402 in fees or to complete and submit the attached corrected prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 21-CV-2406 (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. If Iglesias complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.

The court also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepayment of fees. The order did not address the merits of Iglesias’s claims against Cyrus Vance or Tiffany Wang. It also cautioned that a later dismissal as frivolous or for failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner litigation statute.