United States District Court, D. New Jersey
ANDREW
LUCAS 66419050 MORGANTOWN FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
Inmate Mail/Parcels Plaintiff pro se
OPINION
NOEL
L. HILLMAN, U.S.D.J.
Plaintiff
Andrew Lucas, a prisoner housed at Morgantown FCI, filed a
complaint alleging violations of federal securities laws
without prepayment of fees or security or an application to
proceed in forma pauperis. ECF No. 1.
Pursuant
to Local Civil Rule 54.3, the Clerk shall not be required to
enter any suit, file any paper, issue any process, or render
any other service for which a fee is prescribed, unless the
fee is paid in advance. Under certain circumstances, however,
this Court may permit an indigent plaintiff to proceed in
forma pauperis.
The
entire fee to be paid in advance of filing a civil complaint
is $400. That fee includes a filing fee of $350 plus an
administrative fee of $50, for a total of $400. A prisoner
who is granted in forma pauperis status will,
instead, be assessed a filing fee of $350 and will not be
responsible for the $50 administrative fee. A prisoner who is
denied in forma pauperis status must pay the full
$400, including the $350 filing fee and the $50
administrative fee, before the complaint will be filed.
Title
28, section 1915 of the United States Code establishes
certain financial requirements for prisoners who are
attempting to bring a civil action in forma
pauperis. Under § 1915, a prisoner seeking to bring
a civil action in forma pauperis must submit an
affidavit, including a statement of all assets and
liabilities, which states that the prisoner is unable to pay
the fee. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1). The prisoner also must
submit a certified copy of his inmate trust fund account
statement(s) for the six-month period immediately preceding
the filing of his complaint. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2). The
prisoner must obtain this certified statement from the
appropriate official of each correctional facility at which
he was or is confined during such six-month period.
Id.
If the
prisoner is granted in forma pauperis status, the
prisoner must pay the full amount of the filing fee, in
installments, as follows. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). In
each month that the amount in the prisoner's account
exceeds $10.00, until the filing fee is paid, the agency
having custody of the prisoner shall assess, deduct from the
prisoner's account, and forward to the Clerk of the Court
an installment payment equal to 20% of the preceding
month's income credited to the prisoner's account. 28
U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2).
Plaintiff
may not have known when he submitted his Complaint that he
must pay the filing fee, and that even if the full filing
fee, or any part of it, has been paid, the Court must dismiss
the case if it finds that the action: (1) is frivolous or
malicious; (2) fails to state a claim upon which relief may
be granted; or (3) seeks monetary relief against a defendant
who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. §
1915(e)(2)(B) (in forma pauperis actions). See
also 28 U.S.C. § 1915A (dismissal of actions in
which prisoner seeks redress from a governmental defendant).
If the Court dismisses the case for any of these reasons,
§ 1915 does not suspend installment payments of the
filing fee or permit the prisoner to get back the filing fee,
or any part of it, that has already been paid.
If the
prisoner has, on three or more prior occasions while
incarcerated, brought in federal court an action or appeal
that was dismissed on the grounds that it was frivolous or
malicious, or that it failed to state a claim upon which
relief may be granted, he cannot bring another action in
forma pauperis unless he is in imminent danger of
serious physical injury. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).
In this
action, although Plaintiff seeks to proceed in forma
pauperis, he has not submitted either the required
Affidavit of Poverty or a certified six month account
statement. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2). CONCLUSION
For the reasons set forth above, the Clerk of the Court will
be ordered to administratively terminate this action, without
filing the Complaint or assessing a filing fee.[1] Plaintiff will be
granted leave to apply to re-open within 45 days. An
appropriate Order follows.
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Notes:
[1] Such an administrative termination is
not a “dismissal” for purposes of the statute of
limitations, and if the case is reopened pursuant to the
terms of the accompanying Order, it is not subject to the
statute of limitations time bar if it was originally
submitted timely. See Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266
(1988) (prisoner mailbox rule); Papotto v. Hartford Life
& Acc. Ins. Co., 731 F.3d 265, 275-76 (3d Cir. 2013)
(collecting cases and ...