Williams v. Annucci
- Cathy Seibel
- 7:23-cv-06904
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Williams v. Annucci, Judge Swain ordered Teddy Williams to pay fees or submit forms to proceed without prepaying them.
Teddy Williams is required to pay the fees or submit the specified forms before the case can be processed; the named defendants are not required to respond at this stage because no summons has issued.
What happened
In Williams v. Annucci, Teddy Williams, who is incarcerated and representing himself, filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
The court gave Williams 30 days to either pay $402 or submit a completed application and authorization allowing installment deductions from his prison account. The court said no summons would issue yet and warned that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. This order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Williams v. Annucci · No. 7:23-cv-06904
- Cathy Seibel
- Aug. 17, 2023
Background
Teddy Williams filed this civil action without a lawyer. The opinion states that he is incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. He submitted his complaint without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Fees and Required Filings
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $402 in fees—$350 for filing and $52 for administration—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. If that request is granted, the $350 filing fee is still collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The prisoner authorization also directs the correctional facility to deduct the installments and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
The court ordered Williams, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization. The filings were to identify docket number 23-CV-6904 (LTS).
Ruling and Effect
The court directed payment of the fees or submission of the required forms. No summons would issue at that time. The court stated that, if Williams complied, the Clerk's Office would process the case under its procedures; if he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an 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 Williams's claims.
Additional Warning
The attached materials warned that a dismissal based on frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim can count as a statutory “strike.” After three such strikes, a prisoner generally cannot proceed without prepaying fees in new federal civil actions unless an imminent danger of serious physical injury is involved.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.