Caraballo v. Department of Corrections City of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-00971
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Caraballo v. Department of Corrections, Chief Judge Swain ordered payment or an application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days, or dismissal.
David Caraballo, a detained plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the specified application and authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
David Caraballo filed this case without paying the required fees or submitting the documents needed to request permission to proceed without paying them upfront. He is detained and is representing himself.
The court ordered Caraballo, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment and authorization for installment deductions from his account. The court also said no summons would issue yet.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that the case would be processed if Caraballo complied and would be dismissed if he did not. She also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Caraballo v. Department of Corrections City of New York · No. 1:22-cv-00971
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 8, 2022
Background
David Caraballo brought this civil action while detained at the Vernon C. Bain Center and proceeding without a lawyer. He originally filed the complaint with other detainees, but the court had separated the plaintiffs’ claims and opened this action under docket number 22-CV-0971.
A prisoner filing a civil action must either pay the required fees or request permission to proceed without prepaying them. Caraballo submitted the complaint without the fees, a completed application to proceed without prepayment, or a prisoner authorization.
Order
Judge Swain ordered Caraballo, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay $402 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee; or submit the attached application to proceed without prepayment and a prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 22-CV-0971. If the court grants the application, the $350 filing fee would be collected in installments from Caraballo’s account under the Prison Litigation Reform Act.
The court directed that no summons issue at that time. If Caraballo 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.
Appeal and additional warning
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 court also warned that a dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a “strike” under the prisoner filing-fee law.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.