Ortega v. Hodge

Background

Christopher Ortega filed this civil action without a lawyer. The opinion states that he was incarcerated at the Westchester County Jail. He submitted his complaint without paying the filing fees and without completing an application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), meaning without prepaying the fees, or a required prisoner authorization.

Required filing or payment

The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $405—the $350 filing fee and $55 administrative fee—or request IFP status by submitting the required application and prisoner authorization. If IFP status is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires collection of the $350 filing fee in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to provide certified account statements for the preceding six months and deduct the required payments.

Ruling and consequences

The court ordered Ortega, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $405 in fees or submit the attached IFP application and prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 24-CV-0204 (LTS). No answer was required at that time. If Ortega complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office’s procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.

Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order also cautioned that certain dismissals of a prisoner’s federal civil action or appeal may count as “strikes” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).