Allen v. Canopy Growth Corporation, 1:23-cv-05891

Plaintiff Columbus Allen, Jr., a pro se prisoner housed at California State Prison–Solano, filed a civil action in SDNY.
To proceed, a prisoner must either pay $402 (a $350 filing fee plus a $52 administrative fee) or file an in forma pauperis (IFP) application and a prisoner authorization directing the prison to remit installment payments under 28 U.S.C. § 1915.
Plaintiff submitted an IFP application but did not submit the required prisoner authorization or certified prison account statements.
The Court ordered plaintiff, within 30 days, to either pay the $402 filing fee or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization labeled with the docket number 23-CV-5891.
The Court directed that no summons will issue at this time and warned that failure to comply will result in dismissal of the action.
The Court certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for the purpose of an appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether plaintiff complied with statutory IFP prerequisites (prisoner authorization and account statements)	Allen filed an IFP application but did not provide the prisoner authorization or account statements (no substantive argument supplied).	No defendant position; court enforces statutory procedure under § 1915.	Court found the authorization missing and ordered plaintiff to pay fees or submit the prisoner authorization within 30 days or face dismissal.
Whether a summons should issue now	Plaintiff seeks to proceed with the action.	N/A	No summons will issue until plaintiff complies with the fee/authorization requirement.
Whether the Court should collect fees by installment from plaintiff's prison account	Plaintiff seeks IFP; statutory mechanism requires installment collection if granted.	N/A	If plaintiff files the authorization, the Court will collect the $350 filing fee in installments under § 1915(b).
Whether IFP should be granted for an appeal from this order	Plaintiff did not demonstrate grounds for a good-faith appeal.	N/A	Court certified any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for appeal purposes (Coppedge principle).

Coppedge v. United States, 369 U.S. 438 (1962) (holding that an appellant demonstrates good faith when seeking review of a nonfrivolous issue)