Pettus v. HSI
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-02190
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Pettus v. HSI, Judge Swain dismissed the action without prejudice because Pettus filed without required court permission.
James Pettus and the named defendants; the action was dismissed without prejudice.
What happened
James Pettus filed Pettus v. HSI without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying the filing fee. A 2005 judgment had required him to obtain court permission before filing future civil actions in this court.
Pettus filed this new case without first seeking that permission. The court dismissed the action without prejudice for failing to comply with the 2005 judgment.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment. She also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Pettus permission to proceed without paying the filing fee on appeal.
The detailed version
- Pettus v. HSI · No. 1:25-cv-02190
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 18, 2025
Background
James Pettus filed this civil action against HSI, A Corporation; Molly Mattimore; Ralph Garcia; Johnny Chavez; and Ada Chavez. Pettus filed without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying the filing fee.
The opinion states that, in a judgment dated February 4, 2005, and entered February 24, 2005, the court barred Pettus from filing future civil actions in the Southern District of New York without first obtaining permission from the court. Pettus filed this action but did not seek that required permission.
Ruling
The court dismissed the action without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. § 1651 because Pettus failed to comply with the 2005 judgment. The opinion does not decide the underlying claims against the defendants.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to proceed without paying the filing fee for an appeal. The court directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment dismissing the action.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.