Pagan v. Klein
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-01000
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Pagan v. Klein, Judge Swain ordered incarcerated plaintiff Jerry Pagan to pay fees or submit forms, warning the case will be dismissed for noncompliance.
Jerry Pagan is directly affected because he must pay the required fees or submit the specified forms within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action. The case’s defendants and further court processing are also affected because no summons will issue unless Pagan complies.
What happened
In Pagan v. Klein, Jerry Pagan, who is incarcerated and representing himself, filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request permission to proceed without paying them upfront. The order does not describe the underlying claims.
The court gave Pagan 30 days to either pay $405 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow installment payments of the $350 filing fee from his inmate account. The court directed that no summons be issued at this time.
Judge Swain ordered that the case be processed under the court’s procedures if Pagan complies, but stated that the action will be dismissed if he does not comply within the deadline. The court also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Pagan v. Klein · No. 1:24-cv-01000
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 14, 2024
Background
Jerry Pagan filed this civil action without paying the required filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application, or a prisoner authorization. The opinion states that Pagan is incarcerated at Midhudson Forensic Psych. Center and is proceeding without a lawyer. It does not describe the claims against Klein, et al.
The court’s order
The court directed Pagan, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay $405 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, or submit the attached IFP application and prisoner authorization. If the court grants a prisoner’s IFP application, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization would direct the facility to make those deductions and provide the court with certified account statements for the previous six months.
The court ordered that no summons be issued at that time. It stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Pagan complied with the order, and that the action would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the allowed time. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal.
Effect of the order
This order addresses filing fees and required forms; it does not decide the underlying claims. It gives Pagan a deadline to satisfy the filing requirements and warns of dismissal for noncompliance.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.