Opinion ID: 76054
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Inquiry before dismissal

Text: 12 While the district court properly ordered Wilson to pay an appropriate initial partial filing fee, we conclude that the court abused its discretion in dismissing sua sponte the complaint without making any inquiry into why the fee had not been paid as ordered. We recognize that an imprisoned plaintiff cannot pay his fee simply by writing and mailing a check to the clerk of court. Rather, the prisoner must authorize prison officials to withdraw and pay funds from his or her account; the account must contain the required funds; and prison officials must timely process the withdrawals and payments. Thus, a prisoner's failure to pay his filing fee may be caused by circumstances beyond his control, in which case his complaint should not be dismissed. 13 This Court has not yet determined what type of inquiry a district court must make before dismissing a prisoner's complaint for failure to comply with an IFP order directing the prisoner to pay an initial filing fee. The Fifth Circuit, however, addressed this issue in Hatchet v. Nettles, 201 F.3d 651 (5th Cir.2000), and its approach is instructive. In that case, the district court dismissed a prisoner's complaint when he failed to pay an initial partial filing fee as ordered. On appeal, the prisoner claimed he could not pay the partial fee because he had a balance of only 20 cents. Id. at 652. In reversing the dismissal as an abuse of discretion, the Fifth Circuit recognized the difficulty a prisoner can face in making a fee payment. Even after a prisoner has authorized the custodial institution to withdraw funds and send them to the district court, the prisoner necessarily depends upon the custodial institution to make timely withdrawals and payments. See id. at 652-53. 14 The Fifth Circuit concluded in Hatchet that once the prisoner fails to pay the court-ordered initial partial filing fee, the district court must take reasonable steps to determine whether the prisoner complied with the order by authorizing payment by prison officials. Id. at 654. These steps may include issuing a show-cause order, allowing objections to the magistrate's report, communicating by telephone, fax, or email with officials of the custodial institution, and issuing an order to the custodial institution. See id. According to the Fifth Circuit, a prisoner's response containing copies of any relevant consent forms or an affidavit detailing the prisoner's compliance ordinarily will be sufficient to avoid dismissal for failure to comply with an initial partial filing fee order. Id. 15 We agree with the Fifth Circuit and hold that before dismissing a prisoner's complaint for failure to comply with an IFP order directing the prisoner to pay an initial partial filing fee pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915, the district court must take reasonable steps, such as those outlined by the Fifth Circuit, to determine whether the prisoner complied with the order by authorizing payment by prison officials. See Hatchet, 201 F.3d at 654. Should the district court choose to communicate directly with the custodial institution regarding the inmate's authorization of payment, and receive information that any non-payment was the inmate's fault, the court must give the inmate a reasonable opportunity to respond to this information, through, for example, a show-cause order or the opportunity to make objections to a magistrate's report. 16 When the district court determines that the prisoner did execute a consent form or otherwise authorized the prison officials to remit his or her fee when the funds became available, the complaint ordinarily should not be dismissed for non-payment of the filing fee. Id. In so holding, we recognize that proof of authorization of payment ordinarily confirms that the failure to pay was not the fault of the prisoner, but rather the result of inaction by prison officials or a lack of funds in the account. 7 Any inquiry into the prisoner's efforts to comply with a fee order, and any response thereto, should be made a part of the record to allow this court to review any subsequent dismissal.