Recant v. DeSales Assisted Living Corp.
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-08330
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Recant v. DeSales, Judge Swain denied Recant’s request to avoid filing fees but gave her 30 days to pay.
Robin Recant, whose request to proceed without paying filing fees was denied and whose payment deadline was extended by 30 days.
What happened
In Recant v. DeSales Assisted Living Corp., the court had previously denied Robin Recant’s request to avoid filing fees because it found that she had enough money to pay them, including $6,000 in savings. Recant later wrote that her circumstances had changed and that she had $5,000 in savings.
Recant’s letter mainly described facts supporting her underlying claims and did not explain why she could not afford the filing fees. The court also noted that, in an earlier related proceeding, Recant had reported $27,000 in savings and then paid the required fees.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied Recant’s request to reconsider the fee decision. The court extended the deadline for paying the fees to 30 days from the date of the order and stated that any appeal would not qualify for fee-free status.
The detailed version
- Recant v. DeSales Assisted Living Corp. · No. 1:24-cv-08330
- Laura Swain
- Nov. 21, 2024
Background
The court had denied Robin Recant’s application to proceed without paying filing fees in an order dated November 4, 2024. The court found that Recant had sufficient assets to pay the fees, including $6,000 in a savings account.
The court also referred to Recant’s earlier related proceeding, in which she had reported $27,000 in savings in an application to proceed without paying fees. That application was denied, and Recant paid $405 in fees on June 4, 2024.
Request for Reconsideration
In a November 8, 2024 letter, Recant said that her circumstances had changed since June 4, 2024. She stated that she had $5,000 in savings. The court found, however, that she did not provide facts showing that she could not afford the filing fees. Instead, the letter alleged facts supporting her underlying claims.
Ruling
The court treated Recant’s letter as a request to reconsider the November 4 order and denied that request. Judge Laura Taylor Swain extended the time for Recant to pay the filing fees to 30 days from the date of the order.
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. As a result, fee-free status was denied for purposes of any appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.