Jones-Bey v. The State of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-08734
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Jones-Bey v. State of New York, Judge Swain directed judgment dismissing the action after Jones-Bey failed to amend; the court denied fee-free status for an appeal.
Sister E. Jones-Bey’s action was dismissed, and she was denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees. The State of New York remained the defendant.
What happened
In Sister E. Jones-Bey v. State of New York, Sister E. Jones-Bey was representing herself and had been allowed to proceed without paying filing fees. The court had previously dismissed her complaint for not stating a claim that could support relief, but gave her 30 days to file an amended complaint.
Sister E. Jones-Bey did not file an amended complaint within that period. The court therefore directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment dismissing the action for the reasons given in the earlier dismissal order.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Sister E. Jones-Bey permission to appeal without paying filing fees. The opinion does not describe the claims or the reasons for the earlier dismissal beyond stating that the complaint failed to state a claim.
The detailed version
- Jones-Bey v. The State of New York · No. 1:24-cv-08734
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 14, 2025
Background
Sister E. Jones-Bey brought the action without a lawyer and was allowed to proceed without paying filing fees. In an order dated January 13, 2025, the court dismissed her complaint for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i). The court nevertheless gave her 30 days to file an amended complaint and stated that judgment would be entered if she did not do so.
What the Court Did
Sister E. Jones-Bey did not file an amended complaint. The court therefore directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment dismissing the action for the reasons stated in the January 13, 2025 dismissal order.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. It consequently denied permission to proceed without paying filing fees for an appeal.
Classification
This is a procedural order. The court entered judgment after the plaintiff failed to amend a complaint that had already been dismissed at the initial screening stage. The opinion does not provide the earlier order’s underlying analysis or identify the claims in detail.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.