Judge v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04517
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Vaughn Judge v. Doe, Judge Swain ordered the detained plaintiff to pay $405 or submit forms to seek permission to proceed without prepaying fees.
Vaughn Judge, a detained self-represented plaintiff, must pay the required fees or submit the specified forms within 30 days for the case to proceed.
What happened
Vaughn Judge v. Doe is a civil action filed by Vaughn Judge, who is detained at the Wet Facility Annex on Rikers Island and is representing himself. He submitted a complaint without paying the required fees or providing a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization.
The court gave Vaughn Judge 30 days to either pay $405 or submit the required forms. No summons will issue yet. If he complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case; if he does not, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Judge v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-04517
- Laura Swain
- June 5, 2025
Background
Vaughn Judge filed this civil action without a lawyer. The opinion states that he is currently detained in the Wet Facility Annex on Rikers Island. He submitted the complaint without paying the required filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Payment and filing requirements
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $405 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants the application, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the detention facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
The court ordered Vaughn Judge, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $405 or submit the application and prisoner authorization. The documents should identify docket number 25-CV-4517 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Vaughn Judge complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Other ruling and effect
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. The order also warned that a later dismissal for frivolousness, maliciousness, or failure to state a claim could count as a “strike” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). This order addressed filing-fee and authorization requirements; it did not decide the merits of Vaughn Judge’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.