Smith v. Westhb Traverse House
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-04961
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Smith v. Westhab Traverse House, Judge Swain granted Smith 60 more days to amend his complaint and denied free appeal status.
Kevin A. Smith, who received additional time to file an amended complaint and was denied permission to appeal without paying filing costs.
What happened
In Kevin A. Smith v. Westhab Traverse House, Smith is representing himself. The court had previously found that his complaint did not state a claim and gave him 60 days to file an amended complaint.
Smith asked for more time before that deadline. The court granted the request and ordered him to file an amended complaint within 60 days of this order. If he misses the deadline without showing a good reason, the court said it will enter judgment for the reasons stated in the earlier order.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied Smith permission to appeal without paying the filing costs. The order does not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Smith v. Westhb Traverse House · No. 1:24-cv-04961
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 10, 2025
Background
Kevin A. Smith is proceeding without a lawyer. In an earlier order dated January 2, 2025, the court held that his complaint failed to state a claim on which relief could be granted and gave him 60 days to file an amended complaint.
On January 30, 2025, the court received Smith’s request for an extension of time to file the amended complaint.
Ruling
The court granted Smith’s request for an extension. It directed him to file an amended complaint within 60 days of the February 7, 2025 order. The court stated that, if Smith does not meet that deadline and cannot show good cause for the failure, it will enter judgment in the matter for the reasons given in the January 2 order.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to appeal without paying the required filing costs. The order itself does not decide whether Smith’s underlying claims have merit.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.