Corines v. The Westchester County Dept. of Correction
- Kenneth Karas
- 7:22-cv-05179
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Corines v. Westchester County, Judge Swain ordered payment or an amended fee-waiver application because the plaintiff’s submission was incomplete.
Peter J. Corines, whose application to proceed without prepaying filing fees was found incomplete and who was ordered to pay the fees or submit an amended application.
What happened
In Corines v. The Westchester County Dept. of Correction, Peter J. Corines sued after alleging that newspapers and a financial magazine were delivered sporadically while he was incarcerated in the Westchester County Jail. He filed the case without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying filing fees.
The court found that Corines’s application was incomplete because he did not answer many questions or fully describe his finances. As a result, the court could not determine whether he was unable to pay the required $402 in fees.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered Corines, within 30 days, either to pay the fees or submit an amended application. No summons would issue at that time. The court stated that the action would be dismissed without prejudice if he did not comply and denied fee-free status for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Corines v. The Westchester County Dept. of Correction · No. 7:22-cv-05179
- Kenneth Karas
- Aug. 11, 2022
Background
Peter J. Corines brought this action pro se, meaning without a lawyer. He alleged, among other things, that while he was incarcerated in the Westchester County Jail, he subscribed to The New York Times and Barron’s Weekly financial magazine, but delivery to his cell was sporadic.
To bring a civil action in federal court, a plaintiff must either pay the required fees or submit an application asking to proceed without paying them in advance. The court stated that the required fees totaled $402: a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee.
Fee application
Corines submitted an application to proceed without prepaying the fees. The court found that his responses were incomplete. He had not answered many questions or provided a complete description of his financial situation. Because of those deficiencies, the court could not determine whether he was unable to afford the filing fees.
Ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered Corines, within 30 days of the order, either to pay the $402 in fees or submit an amended application. The amended application had to be labeled with docket number 22-CV-5179 (LTS) and address the deficiencies identified by the court. The court ordered that no summons issue at that time.
The court stated that if Corines failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed without prejudice, meaning the order did not bar refiling. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.