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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled Nov. 14, 2024

Jones v. Acker

Judge
Louis Stanton
Docket
1:24-cv-07904
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
2
Civil ProcedurePro Se
In one sentence

In Jones v. Acker, Judge Swain ordered Shelly Jones to pay the filing fees or submit an application to proceed without prepayment.

Who this affects

Shelly Jones must either pay the $405 in fees or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days; otherwise, Warren Jones will proceed as the sole plaintiff. The order also affects any attempted appeal by denying permission to appeal without prepaying fees.

What happened

In Jones v. Acker, Warren Jones and Shelly Jones filed a lawsuit without lawyers. Warren submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees, but Shelly did not. The court said the case requires $405 in filing and administrative fees unless a fee-waiver application is granted.

The court gave Shelly Jones 30 days to pay the $405 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying the fees. No summons will issue yet. If Shelly complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if she does not, Warren Jones will be the only plaintiff.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims against Judge Christi J. Acker.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
Jones v. Acker · No. 1:24-cv-07904
Judge
Louis Stanton
Date
Nov. 14, 2024

Background

Warren Jones and Shelly Jones brought this civil action without lawyers. To proceed in the Southern District of New York, the plaintiffs must either pay $405 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915.

The plaintiffs filed a joint complaint, but only Warren Jones submitted an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The order does not state that the court granted or denied Warren Jones’s application.

Order

The court ordered Shelly Jones, within 30 days of the order’s November 14, 2024 date, either to pay the $405 in fees or submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees. If she submits the application, it must identify docket number 24-CV-7904. If the court grants it, she may proceed without prepaying fees.

No summons will issue at this time. If Shelly Jones complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If she does not comply within the allowed time, the action will proceed with Warren Jones as the sole plaintiff.

The court certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not address the merits of the claims against Judge Christi J. Acker.

The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
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