Williams v. Fryermuth
- Philip Halpern
- 7:23-cv-02156
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Williams v. Fryermuth, Judge Swain ordered Ezziel Williams to pay filing fees or submit forms within 30 days, warning of dismissal for noncompliance.
Ezziel Williams must either pay the required fees or submit the specified forms within 30 days; otherwise, the action will be dismissed. David Fryermuth was not required to answer at this stage.
What happened
In Williams v. Fryermuth, Ezziel Williams, who is incarcerated and representing himself, filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the required applications.
The court gave Williams 30 days to either pay $402 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow installment payments of the $350 filing fee from his prison account.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered these steps and said that no response from the defendant was required yet. She stated that the case would be processed if Williams complied and would be dismissed if he did not. She also denied fee-waived status for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Williams v. Fryermuth · No. 7:23-cv-02156
- Philip Halpern
- Mar. 15, 2023
Background
Ezziel Williams filed this civil action while incarcerated at the Orange County Jail and proceeded without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required filing fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Court’s Order
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $402 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $52 for the administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants the application, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The prisoner authorization directs the facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the preceding six months.
Within 30 days of the order, Williams was required to choose one of those options. If he submitted the forms, he was instructed to identify docket number 23-CV-2156 (LTS). The court stated that no answer from David Fryermuth was required at that time. If Williams complied, the case would proceed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.
Additional Rulings
The court 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 also cautioned that certain dismissals of prisoner actions can count as “strikes” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). The opinion does not decide the underlying claims against Fryermuth.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.