Scales v. Door Dash
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-02627
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Scales v. Door Dash, Judge Swain ordered payment or a fee-waiver application before the case could proceed.
William Scales and any other plaintiffs in the action were required to pay the fees or submit the required application before the case could proceed. Door Dash was not required to answer or respond while that requirement remained unmet.
What happened
In Scales v. Door Dash, the court received the action by email and assigned it a docket number. The opinion does not describe the claims.
The court gave the plaintiff 30 days to pay $405 in fees or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without paying those fees in advance. Until one of those steps occurred, the court would take no further action, and Door Dash would not have to respond.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that failure to comply, or to request more time, would result in dismissal without prejudice to refiling. She also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Scales v. Door Dash · No. 1:25-cv-02627
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 4, 2025
Background
The action was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by email. The opinion does not state what claims the plaintiffs bring against Door Dash.
Order
To proceed with the civil action, a plaintiff had to either pay $405 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. The order explains that the $405 includes a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, subject to possible updates to the fee schedule.
The plaintiff had 30 days from April 4, 2025, to pay or submit the application. If more than one plaintiff sought permission to proceed without prepaying fees, each plaintiff had to submit a separate completed and signed application. The order stated that no further action would be taken, no summons would issue, and no answer would be required until the fees were paid or a completed and signed application was received.
If the plaintiff complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case under its procedures. If the court granted the application, the plaintiff could proceed without paying the fees in advance. If the plaintiff failed to comply or failed to request an extension of time, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling.
Disposition
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the plaintiff to pay the fees or submit the fee-waiver application within 30 days. She also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. This was a preliminary filing-fee order, not a decision on the merits of the claims.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.