Fortune v. The State of New York

Background

Montrell Fortune filed this civil action against The State of New York and the Department of Correction. The opinion states that Fortune was detained at the Vernon C. Bain Center, was proceeding without a lawyer, and had filed the complaint together with other detainees. The court had separated the detainees’ claims into separate actions.

Payment or application requirement

The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. To make that request, Fortune had to submit a signed application and a prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow the facility to deduct the $350 filing fee from his account in installments and would require submission of certified account statements for the previous six months.

Fortune submitted the complaint without the fees, a completed application, or a prisoner authorization. The court ordered him to do one of the following within 30 days of the order: pay the $402 in fees, or submit the application and authorization forms labeled with docket number 21-CV-4237 (LTS).

Court’s directives and disposition

Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to mail Fortune a copy of the order and record 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 procedures if Fortune complied and that the action would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the allowed time.

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 proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. This order addressed filing-fee and application requirements; it did not decide the merits of Fortune’s claims.