Ewers v. New York Eye & Ear Hospital
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-02303
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Ewers v. New York Eye & Ear Hospital, Judge Swain ordered payment or an application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days.
The plaintiff, Dale Ainsley Leo Ewers, must either pay the required fees or submit the specified application and authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Ewers v. New York Eye & Ear Hospital, the plaintiff filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the documents needed to request permission to proceed without paying fees upfront. The opinion says the plaintiff is incarcerated and representing himself.
The court gave the plaintiff 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 filing-fee payments to be deducted from the plaintiff’s account in installments.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that no summons issue yet. If the plaintiff complies, the case will be processed by the Clerk’s Office; if not, the action will be dismissed. Judge Swain also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Ewers v. New York Eye & Ear Hospital · No. 1:23-cv-02303
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 29, 2023
Background
The plaintiff, Dale Ainsley Leo Ewers, filed this civil action without paying the required filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), meaning without prepaying court fees. The opinion states that Ewers is incarcerated at the Miami-Dade Metro West Detention Center in Miami, Florida, and is representing himself.
Fees and required documents
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 IFP application and a prisoner authorization. If IFP status is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and to provide certified copies of the prisoner’s account statements for the previous six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted IFP status.
Order
The court ordered Ewers, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 in fees or submit the IFP application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 23-CV-2303 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Ewers complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order cautioned that a future dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a “strike” under the federal prisoner-litigation statute.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.