White v. Ezekwe
- Philip Halpern
- 7:22-cv-04451
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In White v. Ezekwe, Judge Swain ordered the incarcerated plaintiff to pay filing fees or submit a fee-waiver application before the case could proceed.
Frank W. White, Jr., the incarcerated plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, must either pay the required fees or submit the required fee-waiver materials for the action to proceed.
What happened
White v. Ezekwe was filed by Frank W. White, Jr., who is incarcerated and representing himself. He submitted a complaint and a prisoner authorization but did not submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee upfront.
The court gave White 30 days to either pay $402 in filing and administrative fees or submit the required application. The court said no summons would issue yet, and that the case would be processed if he complied. If he did not comply on time, the action would be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the order on May 31, 2022. She also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- White v. Ezekwe · No. 7:22-cv-04451
- Philip Halpern
- May 31, 2022
Background
Frank W. White, Jr., who was incarcerated at Upstate Correctional Facility, filed this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted a complaint and a prisoner authorization, but he did not submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying filing fees.
Order
The court directed White, 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 submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees. The court explained that, if the application is granted, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner's account under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The prisoner authorization permits those deductions and requires certified copies of the prisoner's account statements for the previous six months.
No summons would issue at that time. The court stated that, if White complied with the order, 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. The court also warned that a later dismissal as frivolous or for failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the federal prisoner-filing-fee statute.
Appeal
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.