Adkins v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co

In Adkins v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., 335 U.S. 331, 69 S.Ct. 85, 93 L.Ed. 43 (1948), the Supreme Court interpreted several provisions of the in forma pauperis statute. In the Court's unanimous opinion, the most important consideration for the Court in analyzing 28 U.S.C. Section 1915 was the financial impact that those seeking the benefits of the in forma pauperis statute would have on the financial interests of the taxpaying public. For example, in the context of an indigent appellant's request to have superfluous matters printed for inclusion in the record on appeal, the Court stated that "we do not think that the court was without power to protect the public from having to pay heavy costs incident to the inclusion of 'wholly unnecessary' matters in an in forma pauperis appeal." (Id. at 337, 69 S.Ct. at 88.) Furthermore, the Court added: We know of few more appropriate occasions for use of a court's discretion than one in which a litigant, asking that the public pay costs of his litigation, either carelessly or willfully and stubbornly endeavors to saddle the public with wholly uncalled-for expense. Id.