Hicks v. Ryan
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-09585
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Hicks v. Ryan, Judge Swain ordered Hicks to pay filing fees or submit an application to proceed without prepaying them.
Darnell Hicks, whose case must satisfy the fee-payment or fee-waiver requirement before it proceeds.
What happened
Hicks v. Ryan concerns Darnell Hicks’s federal lawsuit. The court had previously directed Hicks to pay $405 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying those fees. The court’s earlier order was returned because Hicks’s address lacked an apartment number.
The Clerk’s Office updated Hicks’s address after learning about the missing apartment number. The court gave Hicks 30 days from April 1, 2025, to pay the $405 or submit the application. No summons will issue for now, and the case will be processed if Hicks complies.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that the action will be dismissed if Hicks does not comply within the allowed time. She also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Hicks v. Ryan · No. 1:24-cv-09585
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 1, 2025
Background
By an order dated December 20, 2024, the court directed Plaintiff Darnell Hicks either to pay $405 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or to submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. The prior order was returned to the court on January 22, 2025, because Hicks had not provided sufficient address information. The court later learned that Hicks had omitted his apartment number from the complaint, and the Clerk’s Office updated his address.
Order
The court ordered that, if Hicks intends to continue the action, he must pay the $405 in fees or submit an application requesting that the fees be waived within 30 days of the order. No summons will issue at this time. If Hicks complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office’s procedures. If he does not comply within the permitted time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. The court therefore denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. This order does not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.