Strunk v. Pinksy
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-06024
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Strunk v. Pinksy, Judge Swain ordered the plaintiff to pay $405 or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees.
James Strunk and Zhou Fang are the named plaintiffs. The order requires the plaintiff to pay the fees or submit an IFP application; William Pinksy is not subject to a merits ruling in this order.
What happened
Strunk v. Pinksy concerns an action brought by James Strunk and Zhou Fang against William Pinksy. The order states that the plaintiff filed the case without a lawyer.
The court said the plaintiff must, within 30 days, either pay $405 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. No summons will issue yet, and the case will be processed if the plaintiff complies; otherwise, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Strunk v. Pinksy · No. 1:24-cv-06024
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 13, 2024
Background
The plaintiffs filed the action without paying the required fees and without submitting an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The order states that the action was brought without a lawyer.
Payment or fee-waiver requirement
The court explained that filing a civil action requires either payment of $405—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. This application is commonly called an “IFP” application, meaning an application to proceed without paying the fees in advance.
Within 30 days of the order, the plaintiff must pay the $405 or submit the attached IFP application. The application should identify docket number 24-CV-6024 (LTS). If the court grants the application, the plaintiff may proceed without prepaying the fees.
Case status and appeal
No summons will issue at this time. If the plaintiff complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. If the plaintiff does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order does not decide the merits of the claims against William Pinksy.
Disposition
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered compliance with the fee-payment or IFP-application requirement and denied IFP status for an appeal.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.