Giddings v. Oanda Corp.

Background

Warren Matthew Giddings, who was incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Training Center, filed this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees, commonly called an application to proceed without paying fees in advance. He did not submit the separate prisoner authorization required for the court to collect filing-fee payments from his prison account.

Order

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. A prisoner who receives that permission must still pay the $350 filing fee in installments under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The prisoner authorization directs the correctional facility to deduct those payments and requires certified copies of the prison account statements for the previous six months.

The court ordered Giddings, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization. If submitted, the authorization was to identify docket number 21-CV-5251 (LTS).

Disposition and Effect

The court directed the Clerk of Court to mail Giddings a copy of the order and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Giddings complied; if he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.

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 order did not address the merits of Giddings’s claims. It also warned that a later dismissal as frivolous or for failure to state a claim could count as a statutory “strike” affecting a prisoner’s ability to proceed without prepaying fees in future cases.