Jones v. Brown
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-11113
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Jones v. Brown, Judge Swain ordered Rufus Jones to pay filing fees or submit forms to proceed without prepayment.
Rufus Jones, the incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the specified forms within 30 days for the action to proceed.
What happened
In Jones v. Brown, Rufus Jones filed a civil action while incarcerated and without a lawyer. He did not submit the required filing fees, completed application, or prisoner authorization.
The court gave Jones 30 days to either pay $402 or submit the forms requesting permission to proceed without paying the fees upfront. If approved, the $350 filing fee would be collected from his account in installments.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk to mail the order, postponed issuing a summons, and said the action would be dismissed if Jones did not comply. The court also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Jones v. Brown · No. 1:21-cv-11113
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 11, 2022
Background
Rufus Jones, who was incarcerated at Orange County Jail and representing himself, filed this civil action without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Order
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit the required application and authorization forms. If the court grants the application, the $350 filing fee must be 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 account statements for the previous six months.
The court ordered Jones, within 30 days of the order, to pay the $402 or submit the application and prisoner authorization. The forms were to identify docket number 21-CV-11113 (LTS). The Clerk was directed to mail Jones a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time.
Effect and Disposition
The court stated that, if Jones complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims against Craig Stephen Brown or Carl E. Dubois.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.