Robinson v. Annucci
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-06924
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 7
In Robinson v. Annucci, Judge Swain ordered pro se prisoner Stephen Robinson to pay fees or submit forms and provide an original signature within 30 days.
Stephen Robinson was required to satisfy the court’s fee, fee-waiver, and signature requirements before the case could proceed. The defendants were not required to respond at this stage, and no summons issued.
What happened
In Robinson v. Annucci, Stephen Robinson, who is incarcerated and representing himself, filed a civil lawsuit without paying the required fees, completing an application to proceed without prepaying fees, or signing the complaint.
The court gave Robinson 30 days to either pay $402 or submit the required fee-waiver application and prisoner authorization. It also ordered him to send an original signature page. The court said no summons would issue yet and warned that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Robinson v. Annucci · No. 1:23-cv-06924
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 11, 2023
Nature of the Order
This was an administrative and procedural order addressing filing requirements. The opinion did not decide whether Robinson’s claims against Anthony Annucci, Joseph Sergeant, or the two John Doe defendants were legally valid.
Filing Fees and Fee-Waiver Materials
Robinson filed the complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application, or a prisoner authorization. The court stated that a prisoner must either pay $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit the required IFP application and prisoner authorization.
The court explained that if a prisoner’s IFP application is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization permits the correctional facility to deduct those payments and requires certified copies of the prisoner’s account statements for the previous six months to be sent to the court. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted IFP status.
Signature Requirement
The complaint did not contain Robinson’s signature. The court cited Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) and the applicable local rule, which require an unrepresented party to sign court papers personally. The court directed Robinson to resubmit the complaint’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days of the order’s date.
Deadlines and Consequences
Within 30 days, Robinson had to either pay the $402 in fees or submit the IFP application and prisoner authorization. If he submitted those forms, he was directed to label them with docket number 23-CV-6924 (LTS). The court stated that no summons would issue at that time. If Robinson complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case under its procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.
The court also warned that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). Finally, Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 7-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.