Buxbaum v. Falco
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-00598
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Buxbaum v. Falco, Judge Swain ordered Michael Buxbaum to pay fees or submit an application to proceed without prepaying them.
Michael Buxbaum must, within 30 days, either pay the $405 fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. If he does neither or fails to request an extension, the action will be dismissed without prejudice. Louis Falco is not required to answer at this stage.
What happened
Buxbaum v. Falco began when Michael Buxbaum submitted a civil action by email. The court had not yet issued a summons or required an answer from Louis Falco.
The court ordered Buxbaum, within 30 days, either to pay $405 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying them. No further action would be taken until one of those steps occurred.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain said that if Buxbaum did not comply or request more time, the action would be dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be filed again. She also denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Buxbaum v. Falco · No. 1:25-cv-00598
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 23, 2025
Background
Michael Buxbaum submitted this civil action to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by email. The court assigned the action a docket number but had not issued a summons or required Louis Falco to answer.
Order
The court directed Buxbaum, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay $405 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, or complete, sign, and submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The order refers to this application as an application to proceed in forma pauperis, or IFP.
The court stated that no further action would be taken until the fees were paid or a completed and signed IFP application was received. If Buxbaum complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case. If the court granted the IFP application, Buxbaum could proceed without prepaying the fees.
Disposition
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling if Buxbaum failed to comply within the allowed time or failed to request an extension. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.