Todman v. The State of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-04184
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Todman v. The State of New York, Judge Swain ordered Todman to pay filing fees or submit forms to proceed without prepayment.
Rashaid Todman and the processing of his civil action; the order required him to pay the fees or submit the required forms before the case could proceed.
What happened
In Todman v. The State of New York, Rashaid Todman filed a civil action while incarcerated and without a lawyer. The court said he had not paid the required fees or submitted the forms needed to request permission to proceed without paying them upfront.
The court gave Todman 30 days to either pay $402 in fees or submit a signed application and authorization allowing installment payments from his prisoner account. The court also directed the Clerk to mail him the order, and no summons would issue at that time.
If Todman did not comply, the action would be dismissed. Judge Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not qualify for proceeding without prepaying fees. The order did not address the claims’ merits.
The detailed version
- Todman v. The State of New York · No. 1:21-cv-04184
- Laura Swain
- May 12, 2021
Background
Rashaid Todman, who was incarcerated at the Vernon C. Bain Center, filed this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without completing an application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Filing-fee requirements
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402—the $350 filing fee and $52 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepayment by submitting a signed application and prisoner authorization. If that request is granted, 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 provide certified account statements for the preceding six months.
Order
The court ordered Todman, within 30 days of May 12, 2021, to do one of two things: pay the $402 in fees, or submit the required application and prisoner authorization forms labeled with docket number 21-CV-4184. The Clerk was directed to mail him the order and record service on the docket. No summons would issue at that time. The court stated that the action would be processed under the Clerk’s procedures if Todman complied and would be dismissed if he did not comply within the time allowed.
The court also certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion did not decide the merits of Todman’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.