Barnett v. State of New York
- Philip Halpern
- 7:24-cv-01174
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Barnett v. State of New York, Judge Swain ordered the incarcerated plaintiff to pay filing fees or submit forms to proceed without prepayment.
LAFVORNE BARNETT, who must either pay the required fees or submit the specified forms within 30 days for the case to proceed.
What happened
In Barnett v. State of New York, the plaintiff filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting completed forms to request permission to proceed without paying the fees upfront.
The court gave the plaintiff 30 days to pay $405 or submit a completed application and authorization allowing filing-fee payments to be deducted from the prison account in installments. The court did not issue summonses at that time and said the action would be dismissed if the plaintiff did not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the claims’ merits.
The detailed version
- Barnett v. State of New York · No. 7:24-cv-01174
- Philip Halpern
- Feb. 22, 2024
Background
LAFVORNE BARNETT filed a civil action against the State of New York and other defendants. The opinion states that Barnett is incarcerated at Five Points Correctional Facility and is proceeding without a lawyer. Barnett submitted the complaint without the required filing fees, a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, or a prisoner authorization.
Order
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $405 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If the court allows the prisoner to proceed without prepaying fees, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account.
The order required Barnett, within 30 days, to either pay the $405 or submit the completed application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 24-CV-1174 (LTS). The court ordered that no summons issue at that time. It stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Barnett complied and that the action would be dismissed if Barnett failed to comply within the allowed time.
Appeal and disposition
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. This order addressed filing-fee and case-processing requirements; it did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.