Sacchetti v. Westchester DOC

Background

Tobia Sacchetti brought this civil action against Westchester DOC and Westchester County Jail. The opinion states that Sacchetti was detained at the Westchester County Jail and was proceeding without a lawyer. He filed the complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

Fee and application requirements

The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402—the $350 filing fee plus a $52 administrative fee—or request authorization to proceed without prepaying fees. That request requires a signed application and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants that status, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The authorization also directs the facility to make those deductions and provide certified copies of the prisoner's account statements for the previous six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted this status.

Order

Within 30 days of the order, Sacchetti was ordered to either pay the $402 in fees or submit the application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 22-CV-4508 (LTS). No summons would issue at that time. If Sacchetti 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.

The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion cautioned that certain dismissals of a prisoner's action or appeal can count as strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), but it did not state that Sacchetti had received a strike in this case.