Soto v. Otis Bantum Correctional Facility
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-09624
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Soto v. Otis Bantum Correctional Facility, Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice after Soto neither paid fees nor filed required forms.
Frank Soto's complaint was dismissed without prejudice because he did not submit the required filing forms or pay the filing fees. The court also denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
What happened
In Soto v. Otis Bantum Correctional Facility, the court had ordered Frank Soto to file an application to proceed without paying the filing fees or pay the required fees within 30 days.
Soto did not file the required application and prisoner authorization, and he did not pay the fees. The opinion does not address the underlying claims.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice, directed the clerk to enter judgment, and denied Soto permission to appeal without paying fees because the appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Soto v. Otis Bantum Correctional Facility · No. 1:24-cv-09624
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 14, 2025
Background
On December 18, 2024, the court ordered Frank Soto to submit, within 30 days, a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee, along with prisoner authorization, or to pay the $405.00 fees required to file a civil action. The order warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal of the complaint.
What the Court Did
The court stated that Soto had not filed the application and prisoner authorization or paid the fees. It therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The dismissal was based on the filing requirements; the opinion did not decide the merits of Soto’s claims.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees. It directed the clerk to enter judgment.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.