Mallgren v. United States
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04376
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Mallgren v. United States, Judge Swain dismissed the action without prejudice because Mallgren filed without required court permission.
Anthony Brian Mallgren remains subject to the court’s filing injunction and was affected by the dismissal. The United States and Harvard University were named as defendants, but the court did not reach the claims against them.
What happened
Mallgren v. United States involved a new civil action filed by Anthony Brian Mallgren against the United States and Harvard University. The opinion did not decide the underlying claims.
A 2016 order barred Mallgren from filing another civil action without paying filing fees unless he first obtained the court’s permission to proceed without paying them. Mallgren did not pay the fees, and he did not ask for the required permission before filing this case.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed the action without prejudice for violating that filing restriction. She also said Mallgren remains subject to the restriction, denied permission to appeal without paying fees, and directed the clerk to enter a civil judgment.
The detailed version
- Mallgren v. United States · No. 1:25-cv-04376
- Laura Swain
- May 29, 2025
Background
Anthony Brian Mallgren filed this civil action against the United States and Harvard University. The court noted that a 2016 order had barred Mallgren from filing future civil actions in the Southern District of New York without first obtaining permission to proceed without paying filing fees. That earlier order was based on the court’s description of Mallgren’s history of frivolous, vexatious, or otherwise nonmeritorious litigation in federal courts.
Mallgren did not pay the fees required to start this action. He also did not request permission to proceed without paying the fees or ask the court for permission to file the action. Based on the lack of payment, the court assumed that he sought to proceed without paying the filing fees.
Ruling
The court dismissed the action without prejudice for failure to comply with the earlier filing injunction. The opinion did not address the merits of Mallgren’s claims against either defendant. The court stated that Mallgren remains subject to the filing injunction.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the appellate filing fees. It also directed the clerk to enter a civil judgment.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.