Tucker v. Adams
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-08909
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Tucker v. Adams, Judge Swain ordered Jamel Tucker to pay fees or submit prisoner authorization within 30 days, or the action will be dismissed.
Jamel Tucker and the continuation of his civil action; the order requires him to pay the stated fees or submit the required prisoner authorization before the case can proceed.
What happened
Tucker v. Adams concerns Jamel Tucker’s attempt to bring a civil case while incarcerated and without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees upfront, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
The court gave Tucker 30 days from October 18, 2023, to either pay $402 in fees or submit the completed authorization. That authorization would allow installment deductions from his prison account for the $350 filing fee and provide the required account records. No summons would issue yet.
The order states that the case will be processed if Tucker complies and will be dismissed if he does not. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Tucker v. Adams · No. 1:23-cv-08909
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 18, 2023
Background
Jamel Tucker, who the opinion says is incarcerated at Rikers Island Correction Facility, filed this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees, commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, or IFP. He did not submit the separate prisoner authorization required for an incarcerated person seeking to proceed without prepaying fees.
Requirements in the Order
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit a signed IFP application and prisoner authorization. If a prisoner is allowed to proceed without prepaying fees, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to provide certified account statements for the previous six months and make the required deductions.
The court ordered Tucker, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 or submit the completed prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 23-CV-8909 (LTS). The order states that no summons would issue at that time. If Tucker complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed period, the action will be dismissed.
Ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims, and it did not state whether Tucker’s IFP application would ultimately be granted. It also cautioned that certain dismissals of prisoner actions can count as strikes under the prisoner-filing statute.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.