Spencer Nimham El Dey v. DOC

Background

Abdullah Spencer Nimham El Dey filed this civil action without a lawyer. The opinion says he is currently detained at Rikers Island. To proceed with a civil action, a prisoner must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application, along with a prisoner authorization.

The prisoner authorization allows deductions from the prisoner's account toward the $350 filing fee and requires certified copies of account statements for the previous six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.

Order

The plaintiff submitted an unsigned fee-waiver application and did not submit a prisoner authorization. The court ordered him, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 in fees or complete and submit the attached fee-waiver application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 22-CV-4027 (LTS).

No summons was to issue at that time. If the plaintiff 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 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 court also cautioned that a prisoner's action or appeal dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a claim can count as a qualifying dismissal, or “strike,” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). After three such strikes, a prisoner generally cannot proceed without prepaying fees in new federal civil actions unless the imminent-danger exception applies.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order. The opinion does not address the merits of the plaintiff's underlying claims.