Gaines v. AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-05323
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Gaines v. AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical, Judge Swain ordered Gaines to pay filing fees or submit authorization to proceed without prepayment within 30 days.
Ernest Edward Gaines, who was required to pay the fees or submit the prisoner authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal without prejudice.
What happened
In Gaines v. AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical, Ernest Edward Gaines filed this civil action without a lawyer and submitted an application to proceed without paying fees upfront. The order states that he is incarcerated and that he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
The court gave Gaines 30 days to either pay $402 in fees or submit the authorization. The authorization would allow installment deductions of the $350 filing fee from his prison account and require certified account statements for the previous six months. No summons would issue at that time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the Clerk to mail the order to Gaines and record service. The order states that the action will be dismissed without prejudice if Gaines does not comply, and that he may not proceed without paying fees for an appeal because any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Gaines v. AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical · No. 1:21-cv-05323
- Laura Swain
- June 16, 2021
Background
Ernest Edward Gaines brought this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, a status commonly called proceeding in forma pauperis, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Fees and Required Filing
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepayment by submitting a signed application and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants the fee-waiver application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires installment payments of the $350 filing fee from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and send certified copies of the prisoner’s account statements for the preceding six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepayment.
Order
The court ordered Gaines, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization. The authorization was to identify docket number 21-CV-5323 (LTS). The Clerk was directed to mail Gaines a copy of the order and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time.
If Gaines failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed without prejudice. The court also 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 proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order cautioned that certain later dismissals could count as “strikes” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), potentially limiting a prisoner’s ability to proceed without prepaying fees in future actions.
Judge
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order on June 16, 2021.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.