Schulte v. United States of America

Background

Joshua Adam Schulte, who was incarcerated in the Metropolitan Correctional Center and represented himself, filed a civil action without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepayment of fees or a prisoner authorization.

Fees and required paperwork

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 request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. The request requires a signed application and a prisoner authorization. If permission 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 account statements for the previous six months.

Order

The court gave Schulte 30 days from the order’s date to pay the $402 or submit the required application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 21-CV-5173 (LTS). Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to mail Schulte a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons would issue at that time. The court 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 allowed time.

The court certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order also cautioned that a later dismissal for being frivolous, malicious, or failing to state a claim could count as a statutory “strike” under the prisoner-litigation filing rules.