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D. Minn.Procedural orderFiled Jan. 10, 2025

Franklin v. Bolin

Judge
Shannon Elkins
Docket
0:24-cv-03736
Court
U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
Pages
2
Civil Procedure
In one sentence

In Franklin v. Bolin, Judge Elkins recommended dismissing the action without prejudice because Franklin did not pay the required initial partial filing fee.

Who this affects

Mark Franklin, Jr., whose action was recommended for dismissal without prejudice; the defendants named in the action were William Bolin, Jenny Carufel, and Eric Hennen.

What happened

In Franklin v. Bolin, the court had ordered Mark Franklin, Jr. to pay an initial partial filing fee of $30.72 within 21 days. The deadline passed without payment or any communication from Franklin.

The court recommended dismissing the action without prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute. A dismissal without prejudice allows the action to be brought again, subject to applicable requirements.

Magistrate Judge Shannon G. Elkins issued the recommendation on January 10, 2025. The report is not a final order or judgment, and the notice states that it is not directly appealable; the parties may file specific written objections within 14 days after service.

The detailed version

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

Case
Franklin v. Bolin · No. 0:24-cv-03736
Judge
Shannon G. Elkins
Date
Jan. 10, 2025

Background

The court had previously directed Mark Franklin, Jr. to pay an initial partial filing fee of $30.72. The order gave Franklin 21 days, through December 26, 2024, to pay the fee and warned that failure to do so could lead to a recommendation that the action be dismissed for failure to prosecute, meaning failure to move the case forward.

Recommendation

The deadline passed, and Franklin had not paid the fee or communicated with the court about the case. Magistrate Judge Shannon G. Elkins therefore recommended that the action be dismissed without prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute. The recommendation does not decide the underlying claims against William Bolin, Jenny Carufel, or Eric Hennen.

Procedural status

The document is a report and recommendation, not an order or judgment of the District Court. The notice states that it is not directly appealable to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. A party may file specific written objections within 14 days after being served with the report and recommendation, and a response to objections may be filed within 14 days after service of the objections.

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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