Hafner v. Hochul
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-00183
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Hafner v. Hochul, Judge Swain ordered Eric Hafner to pay filing fees or submit authorization before the case could proceed.
Eric Hafner, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the stated fees or submit the required prisoner authorization for the case to proceed.
What happened
Hafner v. Hochul concerns Eric Hafner’s attempt to bring a civil action while incarcerated and without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without paying fees upfront but did not submit the required authorization for prison-account deductions.
The court ordered Hafner, within 30 days, either to pay $405 in fees or complete and submit the prisoner authorization. If he submits the authorization, the $350 filing fee will be collected from his account in installments; the $55 administrative fee does not apply to people granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees. The court did not issue a summons at this time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that the case would be processed if Hafner complied, but stated that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the deadline. She also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Hafner v. Hochul · No. 1:24-cv-00183
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 11, 2024
Background
Eric Hafner, who the opinion says is incarcerated at Essex County Correctional Facility, filed this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Filing-fee requirements
The court explained that a prisoner bringing a civil action must either pay $405 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees by submitting a signed application and a prisoner authorization. If permission is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to 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 to make the required deductions.
Order
The court ordered Hafner to do one of two things within 30 days of the order: pay the $405 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 24-CV-0183 (LTS). No summons would issue at that time. The order states that, if Hafner complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order cautioned that certain dismissals of prisoner cases can count as “strikes” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), although this order did not state that Hafner’s action had received a strike.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.