Gayden v. Sackler Family
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-05918
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Gayden v. Sackler Family, Judge Swain ordered John Matthew Gayden, Jr. to pay fees or file prisoner authorization within 30 days.
John Matthew Gayden, Jr., an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the prisoner authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal without prejudice.
What happened
In Gayden v. Sackler Family, John Matthew Gayden, Jr., who is incarcerated and representing himself, asked to proceed without paying the filing fees upfront. He submitted the required fee-waiver application but not the separate authorization needed for deductions from his prison account.
The court ordered him, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or submit the prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow installment deductions of the $350 filing fee and provide the court with six months of account statements. The court did not issue a summons at this time.
If Gayden does not comply, the action will be dismissed without prejudice. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Gayden v. Sackler Family · No. 1:22-cv-05918
- Laura Swain
- July 12, 2022
Background
John Matthew Gayden, Jr., who was incarcerated at FCC Coleman in Florida, brought this action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Order
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepayment by submitting the appropriate application and prisoner authorization. If permission is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected through installment deductions from the prisoner's account. The authorization also directs the prison facility to send the court certified account statements for the preceding six months.
The court ordered Gayden, within 30 days of the order, either to pay the $402 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 22-CV-5918 (LTS). The court stated that no summons would issue at that time. If Gayden does not comply within the allowed period, the action will be dismissed without prejudice.
Appeal and Other Matters
The court 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 proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The court also cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a filing “strike” under the prisoner-litigation statute. The order did not decide the merits of Gayden's claims against the Sackler Family.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.