Cassaday v. Pfizer Inc.

Background

Kevin Cassaday filed this civil action against Pfizer Inc. without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The opinion states that Cassaday was detained at the Newaygo County Jail in White Cloud, Michigan, and was proceeding without a lawyer.

Fee and Application 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 request permission to proceed without prepaying fees by submitting a signed application and a prisoner authorization. If permission is granted, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to deduct those payments and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.

The court ordered Cassaday, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 or submit the application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 22-CV-2495 (LTS).

Order

The court directed payment of the fee or submission of the required forms. No summons would issue at that time. If Cassaday complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he failed to comply within the permitted period, the action would be dismissed. The order itself did not decide the merits of Cassaday’s claims against Pfizer Inc.

The court also 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 opinion further cautioned that certain dismissals of a prisoner’s action or appeal can count as strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).