Antrobus v. Molina

Background

Andre Antrobus, who the opinion says is incarcerated at the Anna M. Kross Center, filed this civil action without a lawyer against Commissioner Lewis A. Molina and Warden Caputo. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

Required Filing or Payment

The court explained that a prisoner who wants to proceed with a civil action must either pay $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization allows deductions from the prisoner’s account toward the $350 filing fee and requires certified copies of the account statements for the prior six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.

The court ordered Antrobus, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 or submit the required application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 22-CV-4780 (LTS).

Ruling and Effect

The court directed payment of the fee or submission of the application and authorization. No summons would issue at that time. The court stated that, if Antrobus complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office’s procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. The court did not address the merits of Antrobus’s claims.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a qualifying dismissal, or “strike,” under the prisoner-litigation statute, but it did not make such a dismissal here.