Keenan v. Department of Corrections

Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan 48909
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C hief Justice Justices
Maura D. Cor rigan Michael F. Cavanagh

Opinion
Elizabeth A. Weaver
Marilyn Kelly
Clifford W. Taylor
Robert P. Young, Jr.
Stephen J. Markman

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FILED JUNE 4, 2002

T. PAUL KEENAN,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v No. 120277

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS,

Defendant-Appellee.

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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

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.