Hussey v. Bellevue Hospital Center
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-04374
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Hussey v. Bellevue Hospital Center, Judge Swain ordered pro se prisoner Yessuh Suhyes Hussey to pay fees or submit authorization before the case proceeds.
Yessuh Suhyes Hussey, a detained plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, was required to pay the fees or submit the required prisoner authorization for the case to proceed.
What happened
In Hussey v. Bellevue Hospital Center, Yessuh Suhyes Hussey sued Bellevue Hospital Center and several unidentified defendants. He asked to proceed without paying court fees upfront and had submitted an application for that permission. The court said he was detained and had been detained when he filed the complaint.
The court ordered Hussey, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or complete and submit a prisoner authorization. That authorization would allow filing-fee payments to be deducted from his detention account in installments and would provide the court with certified account statements for the previous six months. No summons would issue at that time.
If Hussey complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he did not, the action would be dismissed. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Hussey v. Bellevue Hospital Center · No. 1:23-cv-04374
- Laura Swain
- May 31, 2023
Background
Yessuh Suhyes Hussey filed this civil action without a lawyer and requested permission to proceed without prepaying filing fees. He originally filed the action in the Eastern District of New York. That court received his fee-waiver application and later transferred the case to the Southern District of New York, reserving the fee decision for this court.
The court stated that Hussey was detained again and had been a prisoner when he filed the complaint. A prisoner seeking to proceed without prepaying fees must submit both a signed application and a prisoner authorization. Hussey submitted the application but not the authorization.
Order
The court directed Hussey, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay $402 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee, or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization. The authorization would direct the detention facility to deduct the $350 filing fee from his account in installments and send the court certified account statements for the prior six months. The court noted that the $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepayment of fees.
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.
Additional Ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any 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 cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner-filing statute.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.