King v. Miller
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-03336
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In King v. Miller, Judge Swain denied King’s fee-waiver request and ordered him to pay $402 within 30 days.
Sharif King must pay $402 in court fees within 30 days or, according to the order, the action will be dismissed. The order also denies him fee-waiver status for an appeal from this order.
What happened
In King v. Miller, Sharif King, who is incarcerated and representing himself, asked to file without paying the court’s fees upfront. He sued Correction Officer O. Miller, but this order addressed only King’s request to waive the fees.
The court reviewed King’s financial information in this case and in earlier related proceedings. King reported a $17,500 settlement but said he could not access it because of alleged fraud. The court found that his financial information had been inconsistent and indicated that he had enough assets to pay the required fees.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied King’s request to proceed without prepaying the fees and gave him 30 days to pay $402. The court stated that the action will be dismissed if he does not pay on time, and it also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- King v. Miller · No. 1:22-cv-03336
- Laura Swain
- June 6, 2022
Background
Sharif King, who is incarcerated at Five Points Correctional Facility and is proceeding without a lawyer, filed this action against Correction Officer O. Miller. He asked to proceed without prepaying the filing fees, a status commonly called proceeding in forma pauperis, or IFP. For a prisoner civil action, the court stated that the required fees are $402: a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee.
Financial information reviewed
In his IFP application for this case, King stated that he had received a $17,500 settlement in an earlier related proceeding but could not access those funds because of alleged fraud by an agent. He also identified a pending action in the Eastern District of New York concerning the alleged fraud. In that earlier related proceeding, King’s IFP application reportedly stated that he had received $19,700 from a business or self-employment, $75,500 from a court settlement, and $1,400 in federal stimulus money. He also reported having two inaccessible bank accounts and giving his family about $1,050 per month for support. That court denied his IFP request and gave him 30 days to pay the $402 fees; King then asked to voluntarily withdraw that complaint.
The opinion also describes another action King filed in this court. In that case, the court granted IFP status after King stated that the $17,500 settlement had been stolen and that he had no other income. The court found that King had provided inconsistent financial information in the proceedings filed during March and April 2022. Based on the settlement and the other information reviewed, the court determined that King appeared to have sufficient assets to pay the fees.
Ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied King’s request to proceed without prepaying the fees under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1). The order directs King to pay $402 within 30 days of the order’s date. It states that the action will be dismissed if he does not comply within that time. 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 IFP status for purposes of an appeal.
Classification
This is a procedural order because the court ruled on whether King could avoid prepaying filing fees, not on the underlying claims against O. Miller.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.