Velez v. Lassiter
- Cathy Seibel
- 7:23-cv-04758
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Velez v. Lassiter, Judge Swain ordered Michael Velez to pay filing fees or submit forms within 30 days before the case proceeds.
Michael Velez, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the required forms within 30 days for the case to proceed. C.O. Lassiter was not required to answer at this stage.
What happened
In Velez v. Lassiter, Michael Velez filed a civil case without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to ask to proceed without paying them upfront. The order states that Velez is incarcerated and is representing himself.
The court ordered Velez, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow installment payments of the $350 filing fee from his prison account. The court did not require an answer from the defendant at this time.
If Velez complies, the case will be processed under the court’s procedures; if he does not, the action will be dismissed. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Velez v. Lassiter · No. 7:23-cv-04758
- Cathy Seibel
- June 8, 2023
Background
Michael Velez filed this civil action without paying the required filing fees, and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The opinion states that Velez is incarcerated at Orange County Jail and is proceeding without a lawyer. The caption identifies the defendant as C.O. Lassiter.
Order
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. To make that request, Velez had to submit a signed application and a prisoner authorization. The authorization directs the facility holding him to deduct the $350 filing fee from his account in installments and provide certified copies of account statements for the previous six months. Even if permission to proceed without prepaying fees is granted, the full $350 filing fee must be paid through those installments.
The court ordered Velez to take one of those two steps within 30 days of the order. If he submits the forms, they must identify docket number 23-CV-4758 (LTS). No answer from the defendant was required at that time. The court stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Velez complied, and that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed period.
Appeal and classification
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order addressed filing fees and required forms; it did not decide the underlying claims. The opinion also warned that certain later dismissals could count as “strikes” under the prisoner litigation statute.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.