Graves v. The United States Government

Background

Donald Graves filed this civil action without a lawyer. The opinion states that he was being held in the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island. He originally filed the action in the Eastern District of New York, which transferred it to the Southern District of New York.

A prisoner filing a civil case in federal court must generally either pay the filing and administrative fees or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees. A prisoner who seeks that fee waiver must also submit an authorization allowing the court to collect the filing fee in installments from the prisoner's account and requiring certified account statements for the previous six months.

Order

Graves submitted his complaint without the required fees, a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, or a prisoner authorization. The court ordered him, within 30 days of the order, to either pay $402 or submit the application and authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 21-CV-3006 (CM).

The court directed the Clerk of Court to mail Graves a copy of the order and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures if Graves complied, and that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the permitted period.

Appeal and prisoner warning

Judge Colleen McMahon 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 also warned that a later dismissal of a prisoner's federal civil action as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a claim may count as a statutory “strike,” and that three such strikes generally limit a prisoner's ability to file future federal civil actions without prepaying fees, subject to the stated exception for imminent danger of serious physical injury.