Useche v. The State of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-04185
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Useche v. New York, Judge Swain ordered Markus Useche to pay fees or submit paperwork and denied fee-free status for an appeal.
Markus Useche, who filed the action without a lawyer and was detained when the order was entered; the case would be dismissed if he did not pay the fees or submit the required paperwork within 30 days.
What happened
In Useche v. The State of New York, Markus Useche filed a civil case without a lawyer but did not pay the required fees or submit the paperwork needed to ask to proceed without paying them upfront.
The court gave Useche 30 days to either pay $402 or submit a signed application and authorization allowing filing-fee payments to be deducted from his account. The court said no summons would issue yet and warned that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order to Useche and denied fee-free status for any appeal, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Useche v. The State of New York · No. 1:21-cv-04185
- Laura Swain
- May 20, 2021
Background
Markus Useche filed this civil action without a lawyer while detained in the Vernon C. Bain Center on Rikers Island. The complaint was filed with 41 other detainees, and the court had previously separated the claims into individual cases. Useche did not submit the filing fees, a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, or a prisoner authorization.
Order
The court explained that a prisoner starting a civil action must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants that application, the $350 filing fee must generally be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the detention facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
The court ordered Useche, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay the $402 in fees, or submit the required application and prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 21-CV-4185 (LTS). The court directed the Clerk of Court to mail Useche a copy of the order and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that, if Useche complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he did not comply within the deadline, the action would be dismissed.
Disposition
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order did not address the merits of Useche’s claims against The State of New York or The Department of Correction.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.