COSTIN v. CUMBERLAND COUNTY JAIL et al

Filing 2

OPINION. Signed by Judge Noel L. Hillman on 11/17/21. (amv,n.m)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
______________________________
:
JAMERE COSTIN,
:
:
Plaintiff,
:
Civ. No. 21-19198 (NLH)(AMD)
:
v.
:
OPINION
:
:
CUMBERLAND COUNTY JAIL,
:
et al.,
:
:
Defendants.
:
______________________________:
APPEARANCE:

Jamere Costin
68113
Cumberland County Jail
54 W. Broad Street
Bridgeton, NJ 08302
Plaintiff Pro se
HILLMAN, District Judge
Jamere Costin, a prisoner presently detained in the
Cumberland County Jail, New Jersey, has submitted a complaint
under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

ECF No. 1. 1

Pursuant to Local Civil Rule 54.3, the Clerk shall not be
required to enter any suit, file any paper, issue any process,
It is not clear whether Steven Slimmer and Akeem Forman are
additional plaintiffs or are defendants in this action because
their names appear in both sections of the submitted document.
If they intended to pursue this action as plaintiffs, Plaintiffs
must submit an amended complaint with all three plaintiffs’
signatures as well as in forma pauperis applications for each
plaintiff. If Mr. Costin is the only intended plaintiff, it is
not necessary to submit an amended complaint.
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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 $402.

That fee includes a filing fee of $350 plus

an administrative fee of $52, for a total of $402.

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 $52 administrative fee.

A prisoner who is denied in forma

pauperis status must pay the full $402, including the $350
filing fee and the $52 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
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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 this
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.
1915(e)(2)(B) (in forma pauperis actions).

28 U.S.C. §
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.
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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).
Plaintiff has not paid the filing fee or submitted an in
forma pauperis application.
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. 2

The Clerk will

be directed to reopen the matter once Plaintiff submits a new
application or pays the filing fee.
An appropriate Order follows.

Dated: November 17, 2021
At Camden, New Jersey

s/ Noel L. Hillman
NOEL L. HILLMAN, U.S.D.J.

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 explaining that a District Court retains jurisdiction over,
and can re-open, administratively closed cases).
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