Kenyatta v. Brownlee
- John Koeltl
- 1:24-cv-00691
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Kenyatta v. Brownlee, Judge Swain ordered Charles Kenyatta Jr. to pay fees or submit required forms within 30 days, or the action will be dismissed.
Charles Kenyatta, Jr. is required to pay the fees or submit the specified forms within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action. Caresha Brownlee is affected because the case will not proceed to summons issuance unless Kenyatta complies.
What happened
In Kenyatta v. Brownlee, Charles Kenyatta, Jr., who is incarcerated and representing himself, filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request payment without prepaying them.
The court gave him 30 days to either pay $405 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. No summons will be issued yet, and the action will be processed if he complies; if he does not, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied payment-without-prepayment status for any appeal from this order, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the claims’ merits.
The detailed version
- Kenyatta v. Brownlee · No. 1:24-cv-00691
- John Koeltl
- Feb. 1, 2024
Background
Charles Kenyatta, Jr. filed this civil action while incarcerated at Collins Correctional Facility and proceeding without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required filing fees and without completing an application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Court’s Order
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $405—the $350 filing fee and $55 administrative fee—or submit the required application and authorization. If the court grants the application, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The prisoner authorization permits the facility to deduct those payments and send the court certified account statements for the preceding six months.
Within 30 days of the order, Kenyatta must either pay the $405 or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 24-CV-0691 (LTS). No summons will be issued at this time. If he complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed period, the action will be dismissed.
The court also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied payment-without-prepayment status for purposes of an appeal. The order did not address the underlying claims or decide whether either party was legally right.
Judge
The order was signed by Laura Taylor Swain, Chief United States District Judge.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.