Overton v. Annucci
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-06908
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Overton v. Annucci, Judge Swain ordered payment or fee-waiver paperwork within 30 days before the case could proceed.
Terel Overton, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the required fee-waiver application and prisoner authorization before the action can proceed.
What happened
In Overton v. Annucci, Terel Overton, an incarcerated plaintiff without a lawyer, filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the required forms.
The court gave Overton 30 days to either pay $402 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow fee payments to be deducted from his prison account in installments.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that no summons be issued yet and said the case would be processed if Overton complied; otherwise, the action would be dismissed. She also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Overton v. Annucci · No. 1:23-cv-06908
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 8, 2023
Background
Terel Overton, who is incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility and is representing himself, filed this civil action against Anthony Annucci, Joseph Sergeant, and two defendants identified as John Doe. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims. Overton submitted his complaint without paying the filing fees and without completing an application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Court’s Requirements
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402—the $350 filing fee and $52 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. A prisoner requesting that permission must 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 $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted that status.
The court ordered Overton, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 23-CV-6908 (LTS).
Ruling and Effect
The court ordered that no summons be issued at that time. It stated that, if Overton complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
The opinion cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a “strike” under the federal prisoner-litigation statute. It did not make such a finding in this order.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.