Usman v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-02263
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Usman v. Doe, Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Usman neither paid filing fees nor submitted required forms.
Shahab Usman’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice because he did not submit the required application and prisoner authorization or pay the filing fees. The court also denied permission to proceed without paying fees for an appeal.
What happened
In Usman v. Doe, the court gave Shahab Usman 30 days to submit an application to proceed without paying the filing fee in advance and a required prisoner authorization, or to pay the $405 filing fee.
Usman did not submit the required documents or pay the fee. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning it could be filed again, and directed the clerk to enter judgment.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying appeal-related fees.
The detailed version
- Usman v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-02263
- Laura Swain
- May 6, 2025
Background
By an order dated March 28, 2025, the court directed Shahab Usman to do one of two things within 30 days: submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee in advance, along with a required prisoner authorization, or pay the $405 in fees required to file a civil action. The earlier order warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal.
Ruling
The court stated that Usman had not submitted the application and prisoner authorization and had not paid the required fees. It therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the complaint could be filed again. The court directed the clerk to enter judgment.
Appeal-fee ruling
The court 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 fees for an appeal. The order did not address the merits of the underlying complaint.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.