Doe v. Bronx County District Attorney's Office
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-05230
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In John Doe v. Bronx County District Attorney’s Office, Chief Judge Swain ordered a corrected prisoner authorization or payment before the case proceeds.
John Doe, an incarcerated self-represented plaintiff, must either pay the stated fees or submit a corrected prisoner authorization for the case to proceed. The Bronx County District Attorney’s Office is the named defendant, but the order does not address the merits of Doe’s claims.
What happened
John Doe, who is incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility and is representing himself, brought this case against the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office. He submitted an application to proceed without paying fees upfront and a prisoner authorization.
The authorization directed prison-account deductions to the federal court in the Northern District of New York instead of this court. The court gave Doe 30 days to either pay $402 in fees or submit the attached corrected authorization labeled with this case’s docket number.
The court ordered that no summons issue yet and said the case would be processed if Doe complied. It warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal. Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal without paying fees because any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Doe v. Bronx County District Attorney's Office · No. 1:22-cv-05230
- Laura Swain
- June 22, 2022
Background
John Doe, who is incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility, filed this civil action without a lawyer. A prisoner who wants to proceed without paying court fees upfront must submit an application for that status and a signed prisoner authorization. The authorization permits the court to collect the $350 filing fee from the prisoner’s account in installments and requires the facility to provide certified account statements for the previous six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply when the court grants this status.
Doe submitted the required application and an authorization, but the authorization directed deductions from his prison account to the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, rather than to the court handling this case.
Order
The court ordered Doe, within 30 days, to do one of two things: pay the full $402 in fees, consisting of the $350 filing fee and the $52 administrative fee, or complete and submit the attached corrected prisoner authorization. If he submits the authorization, it must identify docket number 22-CV-5230 (LTS).
The court ordered that no summons issue at that time. It stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Doe complied, but that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed period. The order did not dismiss the action at that time.
Appeal and Warning
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The court also warned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner litigation statute. After three such strikes, a prisoner generally cannot proceed without prepaying fees unless facing imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.