Riley v. Otis Bantum Correctional Facility
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-09638
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Riley v. Otis Bantum Correctional Facility, Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice after Riley neither paid filing fees nor submitted required forms.
Dwayne M. Riley’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice because he did not submit the required fee-waiver documents or pay the filing fees. The court also denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
What happened
In Riley v. Otis Bantum Correctional Facility, the court had ordered Riley to submit an application to proceed without paying the filing fee, along with a required prisoner authorization, or pay $405 in filing fees within 30 days.
Riley did not submit the required documents or pay the fees. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Riley permission to appeal without paying fees. The clerk was directed to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Riley v. Otis Bantum Correctional Facility · No. 1:24-cv-09638
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 17, 2025
Background
On December 19, 2024, the court directed Riley to submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee, together with a prisoner authorization, or pay the $405 required to file a civil action. The order warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal.
Court’s Ruling
Riley did not submit the application or prisoner authorization and did not pay the filing fees. The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The dismissal was based on the filing-fee and required-document issue; the opinion does not address the underlying claims.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for an appeal. The court directed the clerk to enter judgment.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.