Cassaday v. Trump Organization

Background

Kevin Cassaday filed this civil action against Trump Organization and other defendants while detained at the Newaygo County Jail in White Cloud, Michigan. The opinion states that he was representing himself. He submitted the complaint without paying the filing fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying those fees or a required prisoner authorization.

Fee and application requirements

The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $402—the $350 filing fee and $52 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. A prisoner seeking that permission must submit a signed application and authorization directing the detention facility to deduct the $350 filing fee from the prisoner’s account in installments and provide certified account statements for the previous six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted this status.

Order

The court ordered Cassaday, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 in fees or submit the application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 22-CV-2496 (LTS). 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 allowed time, the action would be dismissed.

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 did not address the merits of Cassaday’s claims. It also cautioned that certain dismissals of prisoner actions or appeals can count as strikes under the prisoner-filing statute.