Gentile v. Annucci
- Vincent Briccetti
- 7:21-cv-03405
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Gentile v. Annucci, Chief Judge Swain ordered payment or an amended fee-waiver application within 30 days.
Joseph J. Gentile, who was required to pay the filing fees or submit an amended application to proceed without prepaying them within 30 days; the case could be dismissed without prejudice if he did neither.
What happened
Gentile v. Annucci concerns Joseph J. Gentile’s civil case after he was released from custody. He had filed the case while incarcerated and had asked to proceed without paying the filing fee upfront.
The court explained that his release meant his ability to proceed without prepaying fees would now depend on his current financial situation. It ordered him to submit an amended application to waive the fee or pay $402 within 30 days.
Chief Judge Swain ordered that no summons issue yet and stated that failure to comply would result in dismissal for failure to follow the order, without prejudice to refiling. The court also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal.
The detailed version
- Gentile v. Annucci · No. 7:21-cv-03405
- Vincent Briccetti
- Apr. 29, 2021
Background
Joseph J. Gentile filed this action while incarcerated at Fishkill Correctional Facility and proceeded without a lawyer. Before the court decided his application to proceed without prepaying the filing fee, Gentile notified the court that he had been released from custody and provided an updated address.
The court explained that the Prison Litigation Reform Act imposes special rules on people who qualify as prisoners when they file a complaint. Those rules include paying the filing fee in installments and, in some circumstances, being barred from proceeding without prepaying the fee after three qualifying prior dismissals. The court also noted that release does not change whether a dismissal based on failure to state a claim, frivolousness, or maliciousness may count as a strike under the three-strikes rule.
Order
Because Gentile was no longer in the custody of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the court stated that his ability to proceed without prepaying fees must be determined based on his current financial circumstances, as for any other non-prisoner. The court directed Gentile, within 30 days, either to submit an amended application to proceed without prepaying fees or to pay $402, consisting of the $350 filing fee and the $52 administrative fee for litigants who do not proceed without prepaying fees.
The court directed the Clerk to mail the order to Gentile and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. If Gentile failed to comply within the permitted period, the action would be dismissed for failure to comply with the order, without prejudice to refiling. The court also required him to notify the court in writing of any address change and certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith; accordingly, fee-waiver status was denied for purposes of an appeal.
Classification and significance
This was a procedural order about filing fees and eligibility to proceed without prepaying them. The court did not decide the merits of Gentile’s claims against the defendants.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.