Kaid v. Tatum
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-04466
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Kaid v. Tatum, Judge Swain ordered Saeed Kaid to pay fees or submit forms to proceed, warning that noncompliance would lead to dismissal.
Saeed Kaid, who is incarcerated and representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Kaid v. Tatum, Saeed Kaid, who is incarcerated and representing himself, filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them.
The court gave Kaid 30 days to either pay $402 in fees or submit a signed application and authorization allowing installment payments from his prison account. No answer was required from E.L. Tatum, Jr. at that time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that the case would be processed if Kaid complied and would be dismissed if he did not. The order did not decide the underlying claims, and it denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Kaid v. Tatum · No. 1:23-cv-04466
- Laura Swain
- May 31, 2023
Background
Saeed Kaid filed this civil action against E.L. Tatum, Jr. Kaid is incarcerated at Metropolitan Detention Center and filed the action without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without completing an application to proceed without prepaying fees or the required prisoner authorization.
Fees and required documents
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402—the $350 filing fee plus a $52 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees 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 requires certified account statements for the preceding six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order
The court ordered Kaid, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 in fees or submit the completed application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 23-CV-4466 (LTS). No answer was required at that time. The order states that, if Kaid complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he does not comply within the permitted time, the action will be dismissed.
The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. This order addressed filing-fee and filing-status requirements; it did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.