Cohen v. United States of America
- Nelson Roman
- 7:23-cv-08099
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Cohen v. United States, Judge Swain returned Cohen’s partial payment and gave him 30 days to pay all fees or apply to proceed without prepaying.
Jeffrey Cohen must either pay the full $402 in fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization within 30 days. The $350 payment is to be returned, no summons will issue at this time, and the action will be dismissed if he does not comply.
What happened
In Cohen v. United States of America, the incarcerated plaintiff paid $350 toward the required fees but did not pay the additional $52 administrative fee. The court had previously explained that he could instead request permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
The court directed the Clerk’s Office to return the $350 payment. It gave Cohen 30 days to either pay the full $402 or submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. No summons would be issued at that time.
If Cohen did not comply, the action would be dismissed. The court also denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees on appeal, stating that any appeal would not be taken in good faith. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
The detailed version
- Cohen v. United States of America · No. 7:23-cv-08099
- Nelson Roman
- Oct. 4, 2023
Background
Jeffrey Cohen is incarcerated. In an order dated September 22, 2023, the court directed him to pay $402 in fees: a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee. The court explained that Cohen could instead request permission to proceed without prepaying fees by submitting an application and a prisoner authorization. If that request were granted, he would still have to pay the $350 filing fee in installments from his prisoner account, but the $52 administrative fee would not apply.
Payment and Required Next Step
The Clerk’s Office received Cohen’s $350 payment on October 3, 2023. Because he did not pay the $52 administrative fee, the court directed the Clerk’s Office Finance Department to return the $350 to him. Cohen was given 30 days from the date of this order to either pay the full $402 or complete, sign, and submit the application to proceed without prepaying fees and the prisoner authorization.
Ruling
The court did not issue a summons at that time. It stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Cohen complied with the order, and that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed time. 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 proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal.
Classification and Effect
This is a procedural order concerning filing fees and permission to proceed without prepaying fees. It does not decide the underlying claims against the defendants.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.