Moalawi v. The City of New York
- John Koeltl
- 1:24-cv-05795
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Moalawi v. City of New York, Judge Swain ordered payment or an IFP application before the case could proceed.
Ali Moalawi, who must either pay the $405 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment within 30 days; the case will be dismissed if he does not comply.
What happened
Ali Moalawi filed a lawsuit against the City of New York and other defendants without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them. The order states that Moalawi is representing himself.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered Moalawi, within 30 days, either to pay $405 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment. The court said no summons would issue at that time.
The court ordered that the case be processed if Moalawi complies, but that the action will be dismissed if he does not. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied fee-free status for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Moalawi v. The City of New York · No. 1:24-cv-05795
- John Koeltl
- Aug. 5, 2024
Background
Ali Moalawi brought this civil action against the City of New York and other defendants. The order states that Moalawi is proceeding without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without an application to proceed without prepaying them.
Order
The court explained that starting a civil action requires either payment of $405—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or submission of a signed application to proceed without prepayment of fees. The court directed Moalawi, within 30 days of the order, to do one of those two things. If the court grants the application, Moalawi may proceed without prepaying the fees.
No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Moalawi complied with the order. It also stated that the action would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the allowed period.
Appeal
The court certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
Disposition
The court ordered payment of the required fees or submission of an application to proceed without prepayment. It did not issue a summons at that time and stated that failure to comply would result in dismissal of the action.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.