Maina v. Riker's Island RMSC
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-00451
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Maina v. Riker’s Island RMSC, Judge Swain ordered Michelle Maina to pay $5 or submit an IFP application within 30 days.
Michelle Maina is required to pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days; otherwise, the action will be dismissed.
What happened
In Maina v. Riker’s Island RMSC, Michelle Maina filed a petition seeking a court order concerning her detention. She did not pay the required $5 filing fee or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees.
The court ordered Maina to either pay the fee or submit a signed application within 30 days. The order says the application would be reviewed, and no summons would issue at that time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain said the case would be processed if Maina complied and would be dismissed if she did not. The court also denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Maina v. Riker's Island RMSC · No. 1:25-cv-00451
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 22, 2025
Background
Michelle Maina, also identified in the caption as Nicole Main, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and was proceeding without a lawyer. The opinion does not decide the substance of that petition. Maina submitted it without paying the $5 filing fee and without an application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application.
Order
The court ordered Maina, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $5 filing fee or complete and submit the attached signed IFP application. The court explained that, if it granted the application, Maina could proceed without paying the fee in advance. The application was to include docket number 1:25-CV-00451 (LTS).
No summons was to issue at that time. If Maina complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If she did not comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and disposition
The court certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order. The opinion does not state whether Maina later paid the fee or submitted the application, and it does not resolve the habeas petition’s underlying claims.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.