Case Title: T PAUL KEENAN V DEPT OF CORRECTIONS

Citation: 

Docket Number: 120277

State: michigan

Court: Michigan Supreme Court

Date: 2002-06-04T00:00:00Z

Document:
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Michigan Supreme Court 
Lansing, Michigan 48909 
C hief Justice 
Justices 
Maura D. Corrigan  
Michael F. Cavanagh 
Elizabeth A. Weaver 
Marilyn Kelly 
Clifford W. Taylor 
Robert P. Young, Jr. 
Opinion 
Stephen J. Markman 
FILED JUNE 4, 2002  
T. PAUL KEENAN,  
Plaintiff-Appellant,  
v  
No. 120277  
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS,  
Defendant-Appellee.  
MEMORANDUM OPINION  
Plaintiff is a prisoner who filed a complaint against  
defendant Department of Corrections in a circuit court.  
Summary disposition in favor of the defendant was granted by  
order of the court under MCR 2.116(C)(8). Plaintiff filed a  
claim of appeal with the Court of Appeals which that Court  
dismissed because plaintiff had not paid the remainder of a  
filing fee due in a prior case filed with the Court of  
Appeals.
 Plaintiff seeks leave to appeal. 
In lieu of  
granting leave to appeal, we affirm.  
This case is governed by MCL 600.2963. Subsection 3 of  
that section requires a prisoner filing a civil action or  
appeal to pay a certain partial filing fee based on activity  
in the prisoner’s institutional account for the preceding  
twelve months.  Subsection 5 creates a procedure for the  
Department of Corrections to collect the remaining portion of  
the filing fee in monthly installments from the prisoner’s  
account.  Key to the instant dispute is subsection 8, which  
indicates:  
A prisoner who has failed to pay outstanding 
fees and costs as required under this section shall 
not commence a new civil action or appeal until the 
outstanding fees and costs have been paid.  
Plaintiff argues that he has not “failed” to pay  
outstanding fees because the remainder of the filing fee is  
being taken out of his account on a monthly basis under  
subsection 5.  This argument is inconsistent with the plain  
wording of the statute.  Subsection 8 conditions future  
appeals in civil actions on payment of “outstanding fees and  
costs” in prior actions. The term “outstanding fees” refers  
to the difference between the full filing fee and the partial  
filing fee set under subsection 3.  Plaintiff concedes that he  
still owes a portion of the filing fee in the prior case.  
Accordingly, the Court of Appeals correctly dismissed his  
claim of appeal.  In lieu of granting leave to appeal, we  
affirm the order of the Court of Appeals on this point.  In  
all other respects, we deny the delayed application for leave  
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to appeal because we are not persuaded that the remaining  
questions should be reviewed by this Court.  
CORRIGAN, C.J., and CAVANAGH, WEAVER, 
KELLY, TAYLOR, 
YOUNG, 
and  
MARKMAN, JJ., concurred.  
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