Jackson v. Stewart
- Kenneth Karas
- 7:22-cv-07476
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Jackson v. Stewart, Judge Swain ordered Taurean Jackson to pay fees or submit required forms before the case could proceed.
Taurean O’Keith Jackson and the continuation of his civil action; the order required him to pay the fees or submit the specified forms before the case could proceed.
What happened
Jackson v. Stewart was filed by Taurean O’Keith Jackson, who is incarcerated and represented himself. He submitted a complaint without paying the required fees and without completing the application and authorization needed to request permission to proceed without paying fees upfront.
The court gave Jackson 30 days to either pay $402 in fees or submit a completed application and prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow installment payments of the $350 filing fee from his prison account. The court said no answer was required yet and warned that failing to comply could result in dismissal.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain, the judge who signed the order, denied permission to proceed without paying fees for an appeal because any appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Jackson v. Stewart · No. 7:22-cv-07476
- Kenneth Karas
- Sept. 2, 2022
Background
Taurean O’Keith Jackson filed a civil action against A. Stewart and the Bureau of Prisons. The opinion states that Jackson was incarcerated at FCI Allenwood and was proceeding without a lawyer. He submitted his complaint without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Payment and filing requirements
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 prepaying fees. To make that request, Jackson had to submit a signed application and a prisoner authorization. If permission is granted, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order
The court ordered Jackson, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 in fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization labeled with the case’s docket number. No answer was required at that time. The court stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Jackson complied and that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed period.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order did not address the merits of Jackson’s underlying claims. It also warned about the possible consequences of future dismissals that qualify as strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.