MARTIN v. JORDAN

MARTIN v. JORDAN
2006 OK 26
137 P.3d 681
Case Number: 103214
Decided: 05/02/2006

THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA

LOUIS D. MARTIN, Petitioner,

¶0 SHOW CAUSE ORDER FOR PAYMENT OF COSTS

¶1 Petitioner is a prisoner in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (Department). He seeks an extraordinary writ from this Court for the purpose of reviewing procedures of the Department relating to grievances he submitted to Department employees involving his medical care. The Department argues that the Court should not assume original jurisdiction, and that the action should be dismissed for Petitioner's failure to pay the filing fee in this Court. Petitioner's affidavit in support of his motion to proceed in forma pauperis states that he has one-thousand nine-hundred and seventy four dollars and seventy-eight cents ($1974.78), in his mandatory savings account.

¶2 Funds from a prisoner's savings account "may be used by the inmate for fees or costs in filing a civil or criminal action as defined in Section 151 et seq. of Title 28 of the Oklahoma Statutes" or for specified federal court proceedings.

¶3 In Smith v. Moore,

¶4 Petitioner shall either pay the cost deposit of $200.00 required by

¶5 We note that the Department seeks dismissal for Petitioner's failure to pay costs, but the Department's motion is silent on whether the Petitioner has sought to use his mandatory savings account for costs in this Court and whether the Department requires a court order before it will act on a prisoner's request for statutory court costs to be paid from a mandatory savings account. See Gamble v. Calbone, 375 F.3d 1021 (10th Cir. 2004), and the discussion of the Department's procedures.

¶6 When a prisoner seeks to file an action in forma pauperis and has sufficient funds to pay the statutorily required costs, "the prisoner shall be ordered to pay the required costs before the action may commence."

¶7 DONE BY ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT IN CONFERENCE THIS 1ST DAY OF MAY, 2006.

/S/CHIEF JUSTICE

¶8 WATT, C.J., WINCHESTER, V.C.J., LAVENDER, KAUGER, EDMONDSON, TAYLOR, COLBERT, JJ. - Concur