Court Opinion

ID: 9558991
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:20:03.743729+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:42.014465
License: Public Domain

ROTH, Circuit Judge,
Concurring in Part and Dissenting In Part:
Judge Rendell correctly holds that we have jurisdiction over this case and that prisoners may join cases under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 20. I disagree, however, with her holding that each prisoner in a joint-prisoner action must individually pay the entire appellate-docketing fee. Because that holding is incongruous with the relevant statutory scheme, I respectfully dissent from that portion of her opinion. I would require that each prisoner pay an apportioned amount of a single appellate-docketing fee.
Judge Rendell’s holding is incorrect because it violates 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(3) and misconstrues 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). The holding violates § 1915(b)(3), which states that “[i]n no event shall” a court collect a filing fee that “exceed[s] the amount of fees permitted by statute for ... an appeal of a civil action.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(3). Section § 1915(b)(3) thus adopts a sister statute’s cap on appellate-docketing fees; 28 U.S.C. § 1913 is that statute. In § 1913, Congress provides that “[t]he fees and costs to be charged and collected in each court of appeals shall be prescribed ... by the Judicial Conference of the United States.” Id. § 1913. The Judicial Conference, in turn, prescribes a $450 fee “for docketing a case on appeal.” Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, Court of Appeals Miscellaneous Fee Schedule ¶ 1. Importantly, the Fee Schedule notes that “parties filing a joint notice of appeal in the district court are required to pay only one fee.” Id. (emphasis added). Thus, in contrast to the Judge Rendell’s holding, “each joined prisoner” cannot “pay the full individual fee.” (Rendell, J., Op. II.B.l.)
In the case before us, the fourteen prisoners cannot each pay $450 (yielding a $6300 intake) because “parties filing a joint notice of appeal ... are required to pay only one [$450] fee.” See Judicial Conference Schedule of Fees, Court of Appeals Miscellaneous Fee Schedule ¶ 1
Judge Rendell’s holding violates § 1915(b)(3) because she misconstrues § 1915(b)(1). She believes that the “plain language of § 1915(b)(1)” requires each prisoner to “pay the full individual fee.” (See Rendell, J., Op. II.B.l.) But § 1915(b)(1) does not impel that result. It, instead, requires each party—or each prisoner—“to pay the full amount of a filing fee.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1) (emphasis added). This subtle difference, Congress’s use of “a” instead of “the,” illustrates that the $450 fee requirement varies depending on whether a single party—or a single prisoner—or multiple parties—or multiple prisoners'—bring suit. When one prisoner brings suit, he satisfies § 1915(b)(1) by paying $450; when multiple prisoners bring suit under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 20, they satisfy § 1915(b)(1) by paying the apportioned amount of $450. In either situation, the full amount of a filing fee is paid. Each prisoner here thus should pay a one-fourteenth share of $450.
The holding in the case that Judge Rendell relies on also violated § 1915(b)(3) and misconstrued § 1915(b)(1). The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that *165prisoners can proceed jointly if they satisfy Rule 20. See Boriboune v. Berge, 391 F.3d 852, 855 (7th Cir.2004). But when it turned to the fee-assessment issue, the Seventh Circuit concluded that § 1913(b)(1) makes it “each prisoner’s responsibility to pay the full fee.” See id. at 856 (emphasis added). The Seventh Circuit, however, did not analyze § 1915(b)(3). See id. at 855-56.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, by contrast, supports assessing an apportioned amount of filing fees in joint-prisoner actions. The Sixth Circuit addressed the issue of how to assess fees and costs in a two-prisoner suit. See Talley-Bey v. Knebl, 168 F.3d 884, 885 (6th Cir.1999). It affirmed a district court’s division of costs and fees between two prisoners. Id. at 887. It noted that “any fees and costs that a district court or that we may impose must be equally divided among all the participating prisoners.” Id. (emphasis added).
I would assess an apportioned fee among the fourteen prisoners to satisfy the $450 appellate-docketing fee. This would satisfy both § 1915(b)(1), because each prisoner would pay a full filing fee, and § 1915(b)(3), because the prisoners together would pay only one $450 fee. I therefore dissent from that part of Judge Rendell’s opinion that holds that each prisoner must pay the full $450 filing fee.13

. Moreover, I submit that there is no judgment by the Court on this issue because only one eligible judge has voted to require each prisoner-plaintiff in a joint action to pay the full filing fee. As the motions panel noted, resolution of the fee issue requires the resolution of permitting joinder in this case. (See J.A. at 152.) Because Judge Jordan would not permit joinder in this case, he should not be able to vote on the fee required in a Rule 20 joint action by prisoners. See In re Market Square Inn, Inc., 978 F.2d 116, 121 (3d Cir.1992) (stating that only the two members of "the panel who held that appellate jurisdiction existed voted on the merits of the district court’s decision). Because the two eligible judges disagree, the Court has no judgment or holding on the issue of how to assess fees. Any statements by Judge Jordan in his separate opinion concerning fees are merely dicta.