Court, Explained
U.S. Federal District Courts
←Back to docket
S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled Jan. 24, 2025

Buxbaum v. Robert C. Gottleib & Associates PLLC

Judge
John Koeltl
Docket
1:25-cv-00509
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
4
Civil Procedure
In one sentence

In Buxbaum v. Gottleib, Judge Swain required payment or an IFP application within 30 days before the case could proceed.

Who this affects

Michael Buxbaum must either pay the $405 fees or submit a completed and signed IFP application within 30 days, or request an extension. If he does neither, the action will be dismissed without prejudice to refiling. The order also denies IFP status for any appeal from this order.

What happened

In Buxbaum v. Robert C. Gottleib & Associates PLLC, Michael Buxbaum submitted a civil action by email, but the opinion does not address the underlying claims. The court said he must either pay $405 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without paying the fees in advance.

No further action would be taken, and no summons or answer would be required, until payment or a completed application was received. If Buxbaum did not comply within 30 days or request more time, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling.

Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the order on January 24, 2025. She also stated that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying appeal fees.

The detailed version

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

Case
Buxbaum v. Robert C. Gottleib & Associates PLLC · No. 1:25-cv-00509
Judge
John Koeltl
Date
Jan. 24, 2025

Background

Michael Buxbaum submitted this civil action to the Southern District of New York by email. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims or the parties’ positions on those claims.

Order

The court directed Buxbaum, within 30 days of the order, to either pay $405 in fees or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without prepaying fees or costs. The order explains that the $405 consists of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, subject to possible updates to the fee schedule. The application is commonly called an IFP application, meaning an application to proceed without paying fees in advance.

The court stated that no further action would be taken, and no summons would issue or answer would be required, until the fees were paid or a completed and signed IFP application was received. If the application were granted, Buxbaum would be permitted to proceed without prepaying fees. If he failed to comply within the allowed time or failed to request an extension, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling.

Appeal-related ruling

The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal.

Classification

This is a procedural order about payment of filing fees or submission of an application to proceed without prepaying them. It does not decide the merits of the underlying action.

The authoritative version

Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
Summary written with AI assistance. See how summaries are made. Spot something wrong? Tell us.