Murphy v. Mezzella
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-01950
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Murphy v. Mezzella, Judge Swain ordered Teresa Murphy to pay filing fees or submit an application to proceed without prepayment, denying her fee-waiver request.
Teresa Murphy, who must either pay the required fees or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without prepaying them within 30 days for the action to continue.
What happened
In Murphy v. Mezzella, Teresa Murphy filed a civil complaint while representing herself but did not pay the required fees or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without prepaying them.
The court gave Murphy 30 days to pay $405 or submit the required application. No summons will issue yet, and the court stated that it will dismiss the action if she does not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied Murphy’s request to waive the fees without an application, explaining that the Supreme Court has upheld filing fees. Judge Swain also denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Murphy v. Mezzella · No. 1:25-cv-01950
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 13, 2025
Background
Teresa Murphy, who is representing herself, filed a civil action against Officer Mezzella and other defendants. She did not pay the $405 required to begin a civil case in the district court, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee. She also did not submit a completed and signed application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application.
Instead, Murphy submitted a filing asserting that court fees are unconstitutional and asking the court to waive them. The court stated that this assertion was incorrect because the Supreme Court has upheld the imposition of filing fees.
Order
The court denied Murphy’s request to waive the fees without submitting an IFP application. It ordered her, within 30 days of the order, either to pay $405 or to complete, sign, and submit the attached IFP application using docket number 1:25-CV-1950 (LTS).
If the court grants the application, Murphy may proceed without prepaying the fees. No summons will issue at this time. The court stated that the action will be processed through the Clerk’s Office if Murphy complies and will be dismissed if she does not comply within the allowed period.
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. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.