Theodore v. Town of Kent New York
- Cathy Seibel
- 7:24-cv-05414
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Ryan Theodore v. Town of Kent New York, Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Theodore neither paid filing fees nor submitted an IFP application.
Ryan Theodore, whose complaint was dismissed without prejudice after he neither submitted the required application to proceed without paying filing fees nor paid the $405 filing fee.
What happened
Ryan Theodore sued the Town of Kent New York and other defendants in the Southern District of New York. The court had ordered him to submit an application to proceed without paying filing fees or to pay the required $405 filing fee within thirty days.
Theodore did neither. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning he may file it again. The court also directed the clerk to enter judgment.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Theodore permission to appeal without paying fees. The opinion says the dismissal was based on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915.
The detailed version
- Theodore v. Town of Kent New York · No. 7:24-cv-05414
- Cathy Seibel
- Aug. 21, 2024
Background
The court had previously ordered Ryan Theodore to submit a completed application to proceed without paying filing fees or to pay the $405 required to file a civil action. The order gave him thirty days and warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal.
Court’s Ruling
Theodore did not submit the application and did not pay the filing fee. The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice, which leaves Theodore free to refile it. The court cited 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915 and directed the clerk to enter judgment.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to proceed without paying fees for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.