Hussey v. Saint Lukes Roosevelt Hospital Center
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-04372
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Hussey v. Saint Likes Roosevelt Hospital Center, Judge Swain ordered a prisoner authorization or $402 payment within 30 days, warning the action would be dismissed otherwise.
Yessuh Suhyes Hussey, who is proceeding without a lawyer and was detained when he filed the action, must either pay the required fees or submit the required prisoner authorization for the case to proceed.
What happened
In Hussey v. Saint Likes Roosevelt Hospital Center, Yessuh Suhyes Hussey, who is representing himself, asked to proceed without paying court fees upfront. The case was transferred to the Southern District of New York, and the court determined that he was incarcerated when he filed the complaint and was again in custody.
The court ordered Hussey, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or submit a signed prisoner authorization allowing installment payments from his account and providing account statements. The court said no summons would issue yet and warned that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply. It also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the order on May 31, 2023. The order did not decide Hussey’s underlying claims or grant his request to proceed without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Hussey v. Saint Lukes Roosevelt Hospital Center · No. 1:23-cv-04372
- Laura Swain
- May 31, 2023
Background
Yessuh Suhyes Hussey filed this civil action while detained at the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island. He later was released from custody, and the Eastern District of New York directed him to submit an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees. Hussey submitted that application, and the Eastern District transferred the case to the Southern District of New York while leaving the fee application for that court to decide. The court stated that Hussey was again in custody at the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island and that he had been a prisoner when he filed the complaint.
Court’s Analysis
Under the federal filing-fee laws, a prisoner seeking to proceed without prepaying fees must submit both a signed application to do so and a prisoner authorization. The authorization allows the facility holding the prisoner to deduct the $350 filing fee from the prisoner’s account in installments and to provide certified account statements for the previous six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Hussey submitted the fee application but not the prisoner authorization. The court therefore directed him to correct that omission.
Order
Within 30 days of the order, Hussey must either pay the $402 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 23-CV-4372 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Hussey complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain did not decide the merits of Hussey’s claims in this order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.