Pagan v. DOC OMH Agencies
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-01352
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Pagan v. DOC OMH Agencies, Judge Swain ordered Pagan to pay fees or submit a signed authorization before the case proceeds.
Jerry Pagan must either pay the stated fees or submit a signed prisoner authorization within 30 days for the action to proceed. The defendants were not required to respond at this stage, and no summons issued.
What happened
In Pagan v. DOC OMH Agencies, Jerry Pagan, who was detained at Kirby Psychiatric Center and represented himself, submitted a prisoner authorization form but did not sign it.
The court gave Pagan 30 days to either pay $402 in fees or submit a completed, signed authorization allowing installment withdrawals of the filing fee from his account. The court also stated that no summons would issue at that time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that the case would be processed if Pagan complied and would be dismissed if he did not. She also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Pagan v. DOC OMH Agencies · No. 1:22-cv-01352
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 22, 2022
Background
Jerry Pagan brought this civil action without a lawyer while detained at Kirby Psychiatric Center. To proceed without paying court fees in advance, a prisoner must submit a signed application requesting that status and a signed prisoner authorization. The authorization permits deductions from the prisoner's account toward the $350 filing fee and requires account statements for the preceding six months.
Pagan submitted a prisoner authorization, but the opinion states that he did not sign it.
Order
The court ordered Pagan, 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 complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization. The order notes that the $52 administrative fee does not apply to people allowed to proceed without prepaying fees. If Pagan submits the authorization, it must include docket number 22-CV-1352 (LTS).
No summons would issue at that time. If Pagan complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures. If he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. The opinion does not decide the underlying claims against the defendants.
Appeal and Additional Notice
Judge Laura Taylor Swain 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 future dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a qualifying dismissal under the prisoner litigation statute, potentially affecting a prisoner's ability to proceed without prepaying fees in later cases.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.