De la Cruz v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-02260
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In De la Cruz v. Doe, Chief Judge Swain ordered Miguel De la Cruz to pay fees or submit required fee-waiver materials within 30 days.
Miguel De la Cruz, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit the required application and authorization for the case to proceed.
What happened
In De la Cruz v. Doe, Miguel De la Cruz filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying them.
The court ordered him, within 30 days, either to pay $405 or submit a signed fee-waiver application and prisoner authorization. No summons will issue yet, and the action will be dismissed if he does not comply.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from this order, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- De la Cruz v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-02260
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 25, 2025
Background
Miguel De la Cruz, who is incarcerated at the Rikers Island – West Facility Annex and is representing himself, filed this civil action without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees. The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $405 in fees or request permission to proceed without prepayment. The $405 consists of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee.
Order
Within 30 days of the order, De la Cruz must either pay the $405 or submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If permission is granted, the $350 filing fee would be collected in installments from his prison account, as required by federal law. The documents must identify docket number 1:25-CV-2260 (LTS).
No summons will issue at this time. If De la Cruz complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. The order does not decide the claims against Doe.
Ruling
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered De la Cruz to pay the fees or submit the required documents within 30 days. She also denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal from this order, certifying that such an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.