Culbreth v. Manuel
- Philip Halpern
- 7:24-cv-02148
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Culbreth v. Manuel, Judge Swain ordered Kareem H. Culbreth to pay filing fees or submit an application to proceed without prepaying them.
Kareem H. Culbreth must either pay the required fees or submit a completed IFP application within 30 days for the action to proceed.
What happened
In Culbreth v. Manuel, Kareem H. Culbreth, who is incarcerated and representing himself, submitted a complaint with a prisoner authorization but without a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees.
The court ordered Culbreth to pay $405 in filing and administrative fees or submit a completed application within 30 days. If he applies, the court explained that the $350 filing fee would be collected from his account in installments if the application is approved; no summons will issue at this time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that the case will be processed if Culbreth complies, but the action will be dismissed if he does not. She also denied payment-free status for an appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Culbreth v. Manuel · No. 7:24-cv-02148
- Philip Halpern
- Mar. 27, 2024
Background
Kareem H. Culbreth filed this civil action while incarcerated at Orange County Jail and representing himself. He submitted a complaint with a prisoner authorization but did not submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application.
Court’s Order
The court ordered Culbreth, within 30 days of the order, to either pay $405 in fees or submit the attached IFP application. The $405 consists of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee. If a prisoner’s IFP application is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The $55 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted IFP status.
The court instructed Culbreth to label any IFP application with docket number 24-CV-2148 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Culbreth complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he does not comply within the permitted time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal and Disposition
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. This order addresses filing fees and the required application; it does not decide the underlying claims in the complaint.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.