Roque v. Annucci
- Cathy Seibel
- 7:23-cv-06906
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 7
In Roque v. Annucci, Judge Swain ordered Apolinar Roque to pay fees or submit forms and provide an original signature before the case proceeds.
Apolinar Roque and the continued processing of his civil action; the order requires him to submit payment or fee-waiver materials and an original signature before the case proceeds.
What happened
In Roque v. Annucci, Apolinar Roque, who is incarcerated and representing himself, submitted a complaint without paying the required fees or providing a completed application to proceed without prepaying them. He also submitted the complaint without his signature.
The court gave Roque 30 days to either pay $402 in fees or submit a completed application and authorization allowing installment payments from his prison account. He must also submit an original signature page for the complaint. The court will not issue a summons yet.
If Roque does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed; if he does comply, the Clerk’s Office will process the case. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Roque v. Annucci · No. 7:23-cv-06906
- Cathy Seibel
- Aug. 11, 2023
Background
Apolinar Roque, who is incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility and is proceeding without a lawyer, filed a civil action against Anthony Annucci, Joseph Sergeant, and two unidentified officers. The opinion does not address the underlying claims.
Roque submitted the complaint without the required filing fees, a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, or a prisoner authorization. The court also determined that the complaint lacked Roque’s original signature.
Court’s directives
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402 in fees—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit the required application and authorization to proceed without prepaying fees. If the court grants that application, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account, even though the administrative fee does not apply to a person granted that status.
Within 30 days of the order, Roque must either pay the $402 or submit the application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 23-CV-6906 (LTS). He must also resubmit the complaint’s signature page with an original signature within the same 30-day period.
Disposition
The court directed Roque to correct the missing payment or filing documents and the missing signature. No summons shall be issued at this time. If Roque complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
Read the full 7-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.