Evans v. Santa
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-00626
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Evans v. Santa, Judge Swain ordered James Earl Evans to pay filing fees or submit forms to proceed without prepayment within 30 days.
James Earl Evans, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the specified application and prisoner authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Evans v. Santa, James Earl Evans, who is incarcerated and representing himself, filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting a completed application to proceed without prepayment and a prisoner authorization.
The court gave Evans 30 days to pay $402 or submit the required forms. If he submits the forms, the $350 filing fee will be collected from his account in installments; no summonses will issue yet. The court said the action will be dismissed if he does not comply within the deadline.
Judge Swain also denied Evans permission to appeal without prepaying fees, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. This order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Evans v. Santa · No. 1:23-cv-00626
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 27, 2023
Background
James Earl Evans filed this civil action without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The opinion states that Evans was incarcerated at Orange County Jail Correctional Facility and was proceeding without a lawyer.
Court’s order
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit the required application and authorization to request permission to proceed without prepayment. If that request is granted, the $350 filing fee must still be collected from the prisoner’s account in installments under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to provide certified account statements for the previous six months and make the required deductions.
The court ordered Evans, within 30 days of January 27, 2023, to either pay the $402 or submit the application and prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 23-CV-0626 (LTS). No summonses were to issue at that time. The court stated that the action would be dismissed if Evans did not comply within the allowed period. The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Effect of the order
The order addressed filing and fee requirements; it did not decide the merits of Evans’s claims against Lyndsay Santa or the other defendants.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.