Isaacs v. Imperati
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-03964
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Isaacs v. Imperati, Judge Swain ordered Stephen Isaacs to pay the fee or submit an IFP application within 30 days.
Stephen Isaacs, the self-represented petitioner, must either pay the $5.00 filing fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days. The respondents were not required to answer at this stage.
What happened
In Isaacs v. Imperati, Stephen Isaacs filed a habeas petition without paying the $5 filing fee or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying court fees.
The court gave Isaacs 30 days to pay the fee or submit a signed application. No response from the respondents was required at this stage, and the court said the case would be dismissed if Isaacs did not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the habeas petition itself.
The detailed version
- Isaacs v. Imperati · No. 1:25-cv-03964
- Laura Swain
- May 16, 2025
Background
Stephen Isaacs, who is representing himself, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus against Sheriff Kirk Imperati and Commissioner Daniel Martuscello. The opinion does not describe the underlying basis of the petition.
Federal law requires a person filing a habeas petition in this court either to pay a $5.00 filing fee or to submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees, known as an application to proceed in forma pauperis.
Order
Isaacs filed the petition without the filing fee and without an application to proceed in forma pauperis. Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered Isaacs, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $5.00 fee or complete and submit the attached application. If the court grants the application, Isaacs may proceed without prepaying fees. The application must identify docket number 25-CV-3964 (LTS).
No answer from the respondents was required at this time. If Isaacs complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he does not comply within the permitted time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied in forma pauperis status for purposes of an appeal.
Disposition
The court ordered payment of the filing fee or submission of an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the merits of Isaacs’s habeas petition.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.