Church v. Schnell
- John Tunheim
- 0:24-cv-01235
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 3
In Church v. Schnell, Judge Tunheim denied Church’s request to appeal without paying the filing fee.
Justin Dale Church, the self-represented plaintiff and appellant, was denied permission to proceed without paying the filing fee on appeal.
What happened
In Church v. Schnell, Justin Dale Church sued Minnesota correctional officials under a federal civil-rights law. The court had ordered him to pay an initial filing fee, but he did not pay it, and the court dismissed the case without prejudice for failing to pursue it.
Church appealed to the Eighth Circuit and asked to proceed without paying the appeal filing fee. The court explained that such a request must be denied if the appeal is not taken in good faith, including when it has no reasonable basis in law or fact.
Judge John R. Tunheim ruled that the earlier dismissal was correct because Church did not pay the required partial fee. He therefore denied Church’s application to proceed without paying the filing fee on appeal.
The detailed version
- Church v. Schnell · No. 0:24-cv-01235
- John Tunheim
- Sept. 5, 2024
Background
Justin Dale Church, proceeding without a lawyer, brought a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against various Minnesota correctional officials. Magistrate Judge David T. Schultz ordered Church to pay an initial filing fee of $10.10 under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b) and warned that failing to pay within 21 days would lead to dismissal.
Church did not pay the initial fee. Magistrate Judge Schultz recommended dismissal for failure to prosecute. Church did not object to that recommendation, and the court dismissed the action without prejudice on June 25, 2024.
Church later filed a notice of appeal to the Eighth Circuit and applied to proceed in forma pauperis, meaning without paying the usual filing fee, on appeal.
Court’s Analysis
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915, a person may proceed without paying the full filing fee if the person cannot afford it. But even an indigent litigant cannot proceed without paying the fee when the court determines that the appeal is not taken in good faith.
The court explained that an appeal is not taken in good faith when its claims are factually or legally frivolous—meaning they lack an arguable basis in fact or law. The court concluded that the earlier dismissal was correct because Church failed to pay the statutorily required partial filing fee after being ordered to do so. It therefore concluded that Church’s appeal must be deemed frivolous.
Disposition
Judge John R. Tunheim ordered that Church’s application to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal was DENIED. The opinion addressed only the request to proceed without paying the appeal filing fee; it did not decide the underlying civil-rights claims.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.