Hussey v. SHTA Staff Lora
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-03565
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Yessuh Suhyes Hussey v. SHTA Staff Lora, Judge Swain ordered Hussey to pay fees or submit prisoner authorization before the case could proceed.
Yessuh Suhyes Hussey, whose case could proceed only if he paid the required fees or submitted the required prisoner authorization within 30 days; the defendants were not affected by a ruling on the merits.
What happened
Yessuh Suhyes Hussey filed this case without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying filing fees upfront. The case was transferred from the Eastern District of New York to the Southern District of New York. The court noted that Hussey had been released from custody but was again in the custody of the New York City Department of Corrections.
Because Hussey was a prisoner, the court required either payment of the $402 in fees or a signed prisoner authorization. That authorization would allow filing-fee payments to be deducted from Hussey’s account in installments and would provide the court with account statements. Hussey had submitted an application to proceed without upfront payment but had not submitted the authorization.
Judge Swain gave Hussey 30 days to pay the fees or submit the prisoner authorization. No summons would issue yet, and the case would be processed if Hussey complied; if he did not, the action would be dismissed. The court also denied permission to proceed without upfront payment for any appeal and vacated its earlier order requiring payment or an amended application.
The detailed version
- Hussey v. SHTA Staff Lora · No. 1:23-cv-03565
- Laura Swain
- May 18, 2023
Background
Yessuh Suhyes Hussey brought this action without a lawyer and requested permission to proceed without paying filing fees upfront. The action was originally filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York and was transferred to the Southern District of New York by an April 26, 2023 order.
When Hussey filed the action in the Eastern District, he was detained at the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island. He was later released from custody. On April 28, 2023, the court directed him to submit an amended application to proceed without upfront payment or pay the filing fees because his original application no longer reflected his financial circumstances. The court later learned that Hussey was again in the custody of the New York City Department of Corrections.
Court’s Analysis
Under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915, a prisoner bringing a civil action must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit an application to proceed without upfront payment. If the court grants that application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires collection of the $350 filing fee through installments deducted from the prisoner’s account.
A prisoner seeking to proceed without upfront payment must therefore also submit a signed prisoner authorization. The authorization directs the facility holding the prisoner to deduct the filing fee in installments and send the court certified copies of the prisoner’s account statements for the preceding six months. Hussey submitted the application but not the prisoner authorization.
Order
The court directed Hussey, within 30 days of May 18, 2023, either to pay the $402 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 23-CV-3565 (LTS). No summons would issue at that time. If Hussey complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.
The court certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without upfront payment for purposes of an appeal. It also directed the Clerk of Court to vacate the earlier order requiring Hussey to pay the fees or submit an amended application. The order did not decide the underlying claims against SHTA Staff Lora or the other defendants.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.