Hussey v. Torres
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-04337
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Hussey v. Torres, Chief Judge Swain ordered prisoner Yessuh Suhyes Hussey to pay fees or submit authorization within 30 days.
Yessuh Suhyes Hussey, who was required to pay the fees or submit a prisoner authorization before the case could be processed.
What happened
Hussey v. Torres concerns Yessuh Suhyes Hussey’s request to proceed without paying court fees in advance. He had filed the case while detained, later left custody, and submitted an application asking to proceed without prepayment of fees.
The court learned that Hussey was again in custody and determined that he was a prisoner when he filed the case. Because he had not submitted the required authorization allowing installment withdrawals from his account, the court gave him 30 days to pay the fees or submit that authorization. The court did not issue summonses at that time.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that the case would be processed if Hussey complied and would be dismissed if he did not comply within the deadline. She also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Hussey v. Torres · No. 1:23-cv-04337
- Laura Swain
- May 31, 2023
Background
Yessuh Suhyes Hussey filed this action without a lawyer and asked to proceed without prepaying court fees. He originally filed the action in the Eastern District of New York. At that time, he was detained at the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island. He was later released from custody. The Eastern District directed him to submit an application to proceed without prepayment of fees, but did not direct him to submit a prisoner authorization. After receiving his application, the Eastern District transferred the action to the Southern District of New York and left the fee decision for that court.
The court later learned that Hussey was again in the custody of the New York City Department of Correction. The court determined that he was a prisoner when he filed the complaint and that he therefore needed to submit a prisoner authorization.
Fee and authorization requirements
A prisoner who wants to proceed without prepaying fees must submit both a signed application to proceed without prepayment and a prisoner authorization. The authorization permits the facility holding the prisoner to deduct the $350 filing fee from the prisoner’s account in installments and send the court certified account statements for the previous six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepayment of fees.
Hussey submitted the fee application but not the prisoner authorization.
Court’s order
The court directed Hussey, within 30 days of the order, either to pay $402 in fees or to complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 23-CV-4337 (LTS). No summons was to issue at that time. If Hussey complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case under its procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain 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 fees for an appeal. The order also warned that certain future dismissals of prisoner civil actions may count as strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.