Courts Have Flexibility on Appeals Fees for Indigents: 6th Cir.

District courts have the flexibility to require indigent parties to prepay some, all or none of the normal fees to appeal their cases, a federal appeals court ruled.

Five federal prisoners argued that their sentences were too long under federal law, but lost at the district court level. Each appealed, and asked to proceed as a pauper to avoid prepaying the $505 appellate filing fee. The district courts examined each prisoner’s financial status, and granted their motions in part, requiring them to make partial prepayments, between $50 and $400.

District courts can take this approach, the U.S. Court of Appeals ...