Nunez v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04525
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Nunez v. Doe, Judge Swain ordered Eric Nunez to pay filing fees or submit required forms within 30 days, or the action will be dismissed.
Eric Nunez, an incarcerated plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer. The case may be dismissed if he does not either pay the required fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization within 30 days.
What happened
In Nunez v. Doe, Eric Nunez filed a civil action while incarcerated and without a lawyer. He submitted his complaint without paying the required fees or completing the forms needed to request permission to proceed without paying fees upfront.
The court gave Nunez 30 days to either pay $405 in fees or submit a signed fee-waiver application and prisoner authorization. No summons will issue yet. If he does not comply within that time, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Nunez v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-04525
- Laura Swain
- June 17, 2025
Background
Eric Nunez, who the order says is incarcerated at the Rikers Island – West Facility Annex, filed this civil action without a lawyer. He did not pay the required filing and administrative fees, and he did not submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Court’s Instructions
The court explained that a prisoner filing a civil action must either pay $405—$350 for the filing fee and $55 for the administrative fee—or submit the documents needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. If that request is granted, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account under the Prison Litigation Reform Act.
The court ordered Nunez, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $405 or submit the application and prisoner authorization. The documents must identify docket number 1:25-CV-4525 (LTS). The court stated that no summons would issue at that time and that, if Nunez did not comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and Disposition
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. This order addressed filing requirements and did not decide the underlying claims against Doe. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order as Chief United States District Judge.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.