King v. Burnett

Background

Wayne King, who was incarcerated at Lakeview Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, filed this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

Fee and filing requirements

The court explained that a prisoner bringing a civil action must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed in forma pauperis, meaning without prepaying the fees, along with a prisoner authorization.

If the court grants the application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires collection of the $350 filing fee in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to deduct those payments and send the court certified account statements covering the previous six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted this status.

Order

The court ordered King, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 in fees or submit the application and prisoner authorization forms. The forms were to identify docket number 22-CV-1981 (LTS). No summons would issue at that time. If King complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The court directed the Clerk of Court to mail King a copy of the order and record service on the docket.

Additional warning

The court cautioned that a prisoner’s later action dismissed as frivolous or for failing to state a claim may count as a “strike” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). After three strikes, a prisoner generally cannot proceed without prepaying fees in a new action unless the prisoner is in imminent danger of serious physical injury.