Lugo v. The State of New York

Background

Ulyse Lugo filed this civil action without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The opinion states that Lugo is incarcerated at Essex County Correctional Facility and is proceeding without a lawyer.

Fee requirements

The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. To make that request, Lugo had to submit a signed application and a prisoner authorization. If permission is granted, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to deduct those payments and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.

Order

Within 30 days of the order, Lugo was required to pay the $402 in fees or submit the application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 23-CV-5602 (LTS). The court stated that no answer from the defendants was required at that time. If Lugo complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.

The court also 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 appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not address the merits of Lugo’s underlying claims. A footnote warned that certain future dismissals could count as strikes under the prisoner litigation statute, limiting a prisoner’s ability to proceed without prepaying fees after three such strikes, subject to an exception for imminent danger of serious physical injury.