Schulte v. United States of America

Background

Joshua Adam Schulte filed this civil action without paying the filing and administrative fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The order states that Schulte was incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center and was proceeding without a lawyer.

Court’s order

The court directed Schulte, within 30 days, to do one of two things: pay $402 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee, or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization forms. If the court grants the application to proceed without prepaying fees, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from Schulte’s account under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.

No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that, if Schulte complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures, and that, if he failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed. The court also stated that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not address the merits of Schulte’s claims.

Additional caution

The order cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a “strike” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), potentially affecting a prisoner’s ability to proceed without prepaying fees in future actions. This caution was not itself a finding that Schulte’s claims were frivolous or failed to state a claim.