White v. Annucci
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-06901
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In White v. Annucci, Chief Judge Swain ordered Gregory White to pay filing fees or submit forms seeking fee-free status within 30 days.
Gregory White, an incarcerated plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, must either pay the required filing fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization within 30 days. The case may be dismissed if he does not comply; the defendants are not substantively affected because the court has not yet issued a summons or reached the claims.
What happened
In White v. Annucci, Gregory White brought a civil case without a lawyer while incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. The opinion does not address the underlying claims against the defendants.
White submitted his complaint without paying the required fees and without completing an application to proceed without paying fees upfront or a prisoner authorization. The court gave him 30 days from the order to pay $402 or submit the required forms. No summons would be issued yet.
The order says the case will be dismissed if White does not comply within the allowed time. Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied fee-free status for any appeal from this order, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- White v. Annucci · No. 1:23-cv-06901
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 17, 2023
Background
Gregory White filed this civil action without a lawyer while incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. The named defendants are Anthony Annucci, identified in the caption as Commissioner of New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision; Joseph Sergeant; and two defendants identified as John Doe, Officer in Charge, and John Doe, Escorting Officer. The order does not decide the factual or legal merits of White’s claims.
Fees and required filings
The court explained that a prisoner starting a civil case must either pay $402 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $52 for the administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without paying fees upfront. A prisoner making that request must submit a signed application and a prisoner authorization. The authorization permits the facility holding the prisoner to deduct the $350 filing fee from the prisoner’s account in installments and requires certified account statements for the preceding six months. Even if permission to proceed without paying upfront is granted, the prisoner remains responsible for paying the full $350 filing fee. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted that status.
White submitted the complaint without paying the fees and without a completed application or prisoner authorization. The court ordered him, within 30 days of the order, either to pay the $402 or submit the attached application and authorization labeled with docket number 23-CV-6901 (LTS).
Disposition
The court directed White to pay the fees or submit the required forms. No summons would be issued at that time. The case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if White complied, but the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed period. 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.
Classification
This is a procedural order. It addresses filing fees and required prisoner filings and does not reach the merits of White’s claims. The order also cautions 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), but it does 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.