Rodriguez v. United States of America
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-04300
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Rodriguez v. United States, Judge Swain ordered Jose Rodriguez to pay fees or submit a corrected prisoner authorization within 30 days.
Jose Rodriguez and the processing of his civil action in the Southern District of New York.
What happened
In Rodriguez v. United States of America, Jose Rodriguez, who is being held at Essex County Correctional Facility and is representing himself, submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees. The application included a prisoner authorization, but that authorization directed payments to a different federal court.
The court ordered Rodriguez, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or to complete, sign, and submit the attached authorization for this case. The authorization would permit installment payments of the $350 filing fee from his prison trust account; the $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also directed the Clerk to mail the order to Rodriguez and stated that no summons would issue yet. The case would proceed under the Clerk’s procedures if Rodriguez complied, but the action would be dismissed if he did not. The court also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Rodriguez v. United States of America · No. 1:21-cv-04300
- Laura Swain
- May 24, 2021
Background
Jose Rodriguez brought this action against the United States of America and other defendants while being held at Essex County Correctional Facility. He was proceeding without a lawyer. To begin a federal civil action, a prisoner must either pay the required fees or request permission to proceed without prepaying them. That request is commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, or IFP.
Rodriguez submitted an IFP application and a prisoner authorization. The authorization, however, allowed deductions from his prison trust account to be sent to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey rather than to this court, the Southern District of New York.
Order
The court gave Rodriguez 30 days from the date of the order to do one of two things: pay $402 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee, or complete, sign, and submit the attached prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 1:21-CV-4300 (LTS). If permission to proceed without prepaying fees is granted, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from Rodriguez’s prison trust account. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to people granted IFP status.
The order did not decide the underlying claims. It stated that no summons would issue at that time. If Rodriguez complied, the action would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.
Other Ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to mail Rodriguez a copy of the order and record service on the docket. The court certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order also warned that certain future dismissals of prisoner actions can count as “strikes” under the federal prisoner-litigation statute.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.