Gentile v. Latona
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-08411
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
Gentile v. Burnett: Judge Swain denied Gentile’s request to return a filing fee because the fee was paid to another court.
Joseph J. Gentile, Jr., whose request to return $46.89 in collected filing fees was denied without prejudice; the order also affected his ability to appeal without prepaying the appellate filing fee.
What happened
In Gentile v. Burnett, Joseph J. Gentile, Jr. asked the Southern District of New York to return $46.89 collected toward a filing fee. His claims had been separated from an earlier case and transferred to this court, creating a new action.
The court said charging two filing fees was proper because Gentile’s claims had become two separate actions. But the $46.89 for this action appeared to have been paid to the Western District of New York, so the Southern District could not order that court to return it. The request was denied without prejudice to renewing it in the Western District of New York.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal. The opinion separately noted that the court had extended the deadline for Gentile to amend his civil-rights complaint and could dismiss that action if he did not do so.
The detailed version
- Gentile v. Latona · No. 1:22-cv-08411
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 6, 2023
Background
Joseph J. Gentile, Jr. applied for the return of part of a filing fee that had already been collected. He had originally filed an action in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. That court granted his request to proceed without prepaying the full filing fee, separated claims arising at Fishkill Correctional Facility, transferred those claims to the Southern District of New York, and allowed him to amend a claim against Superintendent Latona. The transferred claims became a new action under docket number 22-CV-8411.
The Southern District of New York separately granted Gentile permission to proceed without prepaying the full filing fee. Gentile argued that he had improperly been charged two filing fees—one for the original action and one for the transferred action.
Court’s reasoning
The court explained that prisoners proceeding without prepaying the filing fee still must pay the filing fee in installments under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). It concluded that two fees were properly assessed because the severance of the claims created two separate civil actions.
The court also found that the prisoner-account records showed a $350 fee had been collected for the earlier action and that Gentile was obligated to pay a second $350 fee for this action, with $46.89 collected so far. The records appeared to identify the second payment as being associated with the Western District of New York, even though docket number 22-CV-8411 belonged to the Southern District of New York. The court therefore concluded that the $46.89 had been paid to the Western District of New York and that it could not authorize that court to return the money.
Disposition
The court denied Gentile’s request, without prejudice to renewing it in the Western District of New York. 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 the filing fee for an appeal.
In a footnote, the court noted that Gentile had separately submitted a letter withdrawing both this civil-rights action and a petition challenging a decision concerning his good-time credits. The court stated that, under an earlier order, it would dismiss the civil-rights action if Gentile did not file an amended complaint by the extended deadline.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.