McTerrell v. Doe
- Kenneth Karas
- 7:23-cv-06661
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In McTerrell v. Doe, Judge Swain ordered Sean McTerrell to pay fees or request permission to proceed without prepayment.
Sean McTerrell, whose newly separated claims were transferred to this court and who was required to pay the fees or submit an application and authorization to proceed without prepayment.
What happened
In McTerrell v. Doe, Sean McTerrell’s claims about confinement at Fishkill, Sullivan, and Downstate Correctional Facilities were transferred to this court after being separated from claims in an earlier case. The court treated the transferred claims as a new civil action.
The court explained that McTerrell had to pay $402 in fees or submit an application to proceed without paying fees upfront, along with authorization for installment deductions from his prisoner account. The order gave him 30 days to do so and said no summons would issue yet.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered McTerrell to meet one of those requirements; otherwise, the action will be dismissed. She also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, stating that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- McTerrell v. Doe · No. 7:23-cv-06661
- Kenneth Karas
- Oct. 12, 2023
Background
Sean McTerrell filed a prisoner civil-rights complaint without a lawyer in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. That court allowed claims concerning his confinement at Five Points Correctional Facility to proceed there, severed and transferred claims concerning Marcy and Mid-State Correctional Facilities to the Northern District of New York, and severed and transferred claims concerning Fishkill, Sullivan, and Downstate Correctional Facilities to the Southern District of New York.
McTerrell had been allowed to proceed without prepaying fees in the Western District of New York. Judge Swain held that the severed claims transferred to this court became a new civil action. As a result, McTerrell had to pay the fees for this action or separately request permission to proceed without prepayment.
Order
The court stated that the required fees were $402: a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee. A prisoner seeking permission to proceed without prepayment must submit an application and a prisoner authorization. If permission is granted, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account.
Within 30 days after the order, McTerrell was required either to pay the $402 or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 23-CV-6661 (LTS). The court ordered that no summons issue at that time. It stated that, if McTerrell complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures, and that, if he did not comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain 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. The order did not decide the merits of McTerrell’s constitutional claims.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.