Singh v. Capra
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-07712
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Singh v. Capra, Judge Swain ordered payment or an application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days.
Harpreet Singh, an incarcerated plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, and the defendants named in his civil action.
What happened
Singh v. Capra is a civil action brought by Harpreet Singh, who is incarcerated and representing himself, against M. Capra, Superintendent, and other defendants.
Singh filed the complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting the forms needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them. The court explained that the filing fees total $402, although a prisoner granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees generally pays the $350 filing fee in installments.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered Singh to pay the fees or submit the required application and authorization within 30 days. The court said no answer was required yet and that the action would be dismissed if Singh did not comply; it also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Singh v. Capra · No. 1:22-cv-07712
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 13, 2022
Background
Harpreet Singh, who was incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility and proceeding without a lawyer, filed a civil action against M. Capra, Superintendent, and other defendants. Singh submitted the complaint without paying the required filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or the required prisoner authorization.
The court’s order
The court ordered Singh, within 30 days, to do one of two things: pay $402 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee, or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization. If the court grants the application, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from Singh’s account under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified copies of Singh’s account statements for the previous six months.
The court stated that no answer from the defendants was required at that stage. If Singh complied, the case would proceed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.