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Error to Dismiss Suit for Inability to Pay Filing Fee
Loaded on Dec. 15, 2000
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2000, page 12
The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that it was an abuse of discretion for a district court to dismiss a prisoner's suit for failure to pay the initial assessed filing fee without first determining if the prisoner had the means to pay the assessed filing fee. The …
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More from this issue:
- Dying For Profits: CMS and the Privatization of Prisoner Health Care, by Ronald Young
- CMS Fined Nearly $1 Million in Virginia, by Dan Pens
- Fired Washington Parole Officer Wins $250,000 Settlement
- Medical Claims Against CMS to be Refiled in State Court
- CA Court Overrules Parole Denial, by John E Dannenberg
- Controversy Surrounds Letourneau Tape
- WA Civil Commitment Ruling Published
- Perpetuating Crime, Consolidating Power, by Janet Stanton
- Actual Innocence--Five Days to Execution and other Dispatches From the Wrongly Convicted, by Roger Hummel
- Stun Gun Death in VA Prison
- Alabama Officials Guilty in Phone Scam
- Error to Dismiss Suit for Inability to Pay Filing Fee
- PLRA Physical Injury Rule Does Not Apply to Mail Claims
- Sandin Limits Property Interests
- Pro Se Tips and Tactics, by John Midgley
- Dismissal for Texas Prisoner's Failure to State Facts of Prior Suits
- Excessive Force Claims Require Administrative Exhaustion
- Sexual Assault, Beatings State Claim
- En Banc Sixth Circuit Addresses Mental Health Care
- WA 35% Seizure Statute Ruled on by Ninth Circuit, by Paul Wright
- Notes From the Unrepenitentiary: CA Prisoners Denied Medical Care, by Linda Evans
- News in Brief
- Death as a Salesman: Benneton Ad Campaign Comes to Death Row, by Dan Pens
- Family Impact of Out of State Transfers Immaterial
- Illinois Supermax Hunger Strike, by Dan Pens
- Idaho Prisoners Can Sue for On-the-Job Injuries
- False Evidence Meets Some Evidence Standard
- Attorney Fees Awarded in Challenge to Nevada Shooting Policy
- DC Circuit Revives Hewitt v. Helms
- No Immunity for Private Prison Physician
- PA Prisoner Awarded $300,000 in Guard Beating
More from these topics:
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- Eighth Circuit Rules Iowa Prisoner’s Adverse Summary Judgment Is Not a “Strike”, March 1, 2026. Filing Fees (PLRA), Frivolous Litigation (PLRA), Summary Judgment, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Access To Courts.
- Eleventh Circuit Upholds Dismissal of Six Female Alabama Jail Detainees’ Sexual Assault Suit, Jan. 1, 2026. Jail Misconduct, Summary Judgment, Limitations, Municipal Liability, Criminal Sexual Abuse.
- Ninth Circuit Grants Equitable Tolling Under AEDPA Where Attorney Abandoned Prisoner by Failing to Communicate for Nine Months and Prison Officials Delayed Processing Filing Documents, Dec. 15, 2025. Attorney Misconduct, Legal Materials, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Limitations, AEDPA.
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- Appeals Court Rules Michigan’s Tolling Provision Is Not Inconsistent with the PLRA, Nov. 1, 2025. Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Limitations, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Tolling of Statutes of Limitations and Laches.
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- Ninth Circuit Springs California Prisoners from “Catch-22” Reading of PLRA, Oct. 1, 2025. Filing Fees (PLRA), Mental Health.