DeJesus Peguero Brito v. United States
- Lewis Kaplan
- 1:24-cv-01800
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In DeJesus Peguero Brito v. United States, Judge Kaplan ordered payment or an IFP application within 30 days, warning of dismissal without prejudice.
Angel De Jesus Peguero Brito and the civil action he filed seeking return of property; the order requires him to pay the fees or submit the specified forms before the case can proceed.
What happened
DeJesus Peguero Brito filed a motion seeking the return of property in a criminal case. The court opened it as a new civil action, and the petitioner is incarcerated and representing himself.
The court ordered the petitioner, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If he does neither, the action will be dismissed without prejudice. The court also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan did not decide whether the property should be returned. The order addresses only the filing-fee requirements and the petitioner’s next procedural options.
The detailed version
- DeJesus Peguero Brito v. United States · No. 1:24-cv-01800
- Lewis Kaplan
- Mar. 11, 2024
Background
Angel De Jesus Peguero Brito, who is incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Loretto in Pennsylvania, filed a motion seeking the return of property without a lawyer. The motion was initially filed in his criminal case, No. 21-CR-0466 (LAK), but the court directed that it be opened as a new civil action.
Filing-fee requirements
The court explained that starting a civil action requires either prepayment of $402— a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or an application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application. If a prisoner’s IFP application is granted, the $350 filing fee must generally be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. A prisoner must therefore also submit a signed prisoner authorization allowing those deductions and directing the facility to provide certified account statements for the previous six months. The $52 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted IFP status.
Brito had submitted the motion without paying the fees and without submitting a completed IFP application or prisoner authorization.
Ruling
The court ordered Brito to do one of two things within 30 days of the order: pay the $402 in fees, or submit the attached IFP application and prisoner authorization forms labeled with docket number 24-CV-1800 (LAK). The court stated that failure to comply within the allowed period would result in dismissal without prejudice. The order did not decide the request for return of property.
The court also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan entered the order.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.