Celli v. Engelmayer
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-06535
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 6
In Celli v. Engelmayer, Judge Swain vacated Celli’s permission to proceed without prepaying fees and required payment or corrected prisoner forms within 30 days.
Lucio Celli was required to pay the filing fees or submit a corrected prisoner fee application and authorization within 30 days; otherwise, his action would be dismissed. The order also delayed issuance of a summons and denied fee-free appeal status.
What happened
In Celli v. Engelmayer, Lucio Celli filed a case without a lawyer and asked to proceed without prepaying court fees. The court had initially granted that request, but later learned that Celli was in federal custody when he filed the case.
The court vacated its earlier permission. It ordered Celli, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or submit a corrected application and a form authorizing installment payments from his prison account. The court also said that no summons would issue at that time and that the case would be dismissed if Celli did not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the order. She also denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for any appeal from the order, stating that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Celli v. Engelmayer · No. 1:22-cv-06535
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 9, 2022
Background
Lucio Celli brought the action without a lawyer. On August 2, 2022, the court granted his application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called permission to proceed in forma pauperis. The court later learned that Celli was in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at FMC Lexington in Kentucky when he filed the complaint.
Because Celli was a prisoner when he filed the action, the court explained that he had to either pay the full $402 required to file a civil action or submit both a corrected fee application and a prisoner authorization. The $402 consists of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee. If a prisoner receives permission to proceed without prepaying fees, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prison account. The prisoner authorization allows the facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the prior six months.
Court’s Action
The court vacated its August 2 order granting Celli’s fee application because his original application did not identify him as a prisoner and he had not submitted a prisoner authorization. Within 30 days of the order, Celli was required to either pay $402 or submit the attached amended application and prisoner authorization. The court directed that the amended documents be labeled with docket number 22-CV-6417. No summons was to issue at that time.
The court stated that, if Celli 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 that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for that appeal. The Clerk was directed to mail the order to Celli at his address of record and at FMC Lexington and to record service on the docket.
Read the full 6-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.