Hussey v. Giannone
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-04339
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Hussey v. Giannone, Judge Swain ordered the detained plaintiff to pay fees or submit a prisoner authorization within 30 days.
Yessuh Suhyes Hussey’s ability to proceed with the case: he must pay the required fees or submit a prisoner authorization within 30 days, or the action will be dismissed.
What happened
Hussey v. Giannone concerns a lawsuit filed by Yessuh Suhyes Hussey, who is representing himself. He asked to proceed without paying court fees in advance, but he did not submit the required authorization for deductions from a prisoner account. The case had been transferred from the Eastern District of New York to the Southern District of New York.
The court found that Hussey was a prisoner when he filed the complaint and was again in custody. Within 30 days, he must either pay $402 in fees or submit the completed prisoner authorization. The authorization permits installment deductions of the $350 filing fee and requires submission of certified account statements. No summons will issue yet.
If Hussey does not comply on time, the action will be dismissed. If he complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal this order without prepaying appeal fees, finding that such an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Hussey v. Giannone · No. 1:23-cv-04339
- Laura Swain
- May 31, 2023
Background
Yessuh Suhyes Hussey filed this civil action without a lawyer and requested permission 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, submitted an application to proceed without prepaying fees, and the Eastern District transferred the action to the Southern District of New York while reserving the fee decision for that court.
The Southern District 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 therefore needed to submit both an application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization.
Court’s Order
A prisoner who seeks to proceed without prepaying fees must authorize deductions from the prisoner’s account to pay the $350 filing fee in installments. The prisoner must also provide certified copies of account statements for the preceding six months. Hussey submitted the fee application but not the prisoner authorization.
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 using docket number 23-CV-4339. The $402 consists of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee; the administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees. No summons will issue at this time.
If Hussey complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the action. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying appeal fees. The order did not address the merits of Hussey’s claims.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.