Nazer v. The State of Israel
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-03744
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Nazer v. The State of Israel, Judge Swain ordered the incarcerated plaintiff to pay fees or submit authorization within 30 days.
Izzat Nazer, the incarcerated plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, and the further processing of his civil action.
What happened
In Nazer v. The State of Israel, Izzat Nazer, who is incarcerated at Rikers Island and is representing himself, submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees. He did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
The authorization would allow the facility to deduct the $350 filing fee from his account in installments and provide the court with certified account statements for the previous six months. Nazer therefore had to either pay $402 in fees or submit the authorization within 30 days of the order.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that no summons issue yet and said the case would be processed if Nazer complied. She stated that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply, and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Nazer v. The State of Israel · No. 1:23-cv-03744
- Laura Swain
- May 5, 2023
Background
Izzat Nazer, who is incarcerated at Rikers Island, brought this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Required Fees and Authorization
The court explained that a prisoner starting a civil action must either pay $402 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $52 for the administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. If the court grants that request, 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 send the court certified copies of the prisoner's account statements for the prior six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered Nazer, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 23-CV-3744 (LTS). No summons would issue at that time. If Nazer complied, the Clerk's Office would process the case under its procedures; if he failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed.
The court also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion does not state whether Nazer later complied with the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.