Schulte v. United States of America
- Jesse Furman
- 1:21-cv-05168
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Schulte v. United States of America, Judge Swain ordered Joshua Adam Schulte to pay fees or submit IFP papers within 30 days, or the action will be dismissed.
Joshua Adam Schulte, an incarcerated plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, must either pay the required fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Schulte v. United States of America, Joshua Adam Schulte, who was incarcerated and represented himself, filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them.
The court gave Schulte 30 days to pay $402 in fees or submit a completed application and authorization allowing installment payments from his prisoner account. The court said no summons would issue yet and that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Schulte v. United States of America · No. 1:21-cv-05168
- Jesse Furman
- June 10, 2021
Background
Joshua Adam Schulte filed this civil action while incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center and proceeded without a lawyer. The opinion states that he submitted his complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepayment of fees or a prisoner authorization.
Fee and application requirement
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit the documents required to request permission to proceed without prepaying the fees. If that request is granted, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The prisoner authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified copies of the prisoner's account statements for the preceding six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted this permission.
Order
The court ordered Schulte to do one of two things within 30 days of the order's date: pay the $402 in fees, or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 21-CV-5168 (LTS). The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Schulte a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk's procedures if Schulte complied and that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the permitted time.
Appeal and prisoner-litigation warning
The court 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 appeal without prepaying fees. The court also cautioned that a prisoner's action dismissed as frivolous or for failure to state a claim can count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). After three such strikes, a prisoner generally cannot proceed without prepaying fees unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury. This order did not determine whether Schulte's claims were frivolous or failed to state a claim.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.