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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled June 26, 2025

Scales v. Door Dash

Judge
Laura Swain
Docket
1:25-cv-02627
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
2
Civil Procedure
In one sentence

In Scales v. Door Dash, Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice because William Scales did not submit a fee-waiver application or pay filing fees.

Who this affects

William Scales and Taskem’s complaint against Door Dash was dismissed without prejudice because the required fee-waiver application was not filed and the filing fee was not paid. Scales was also denied permission to proceed without paying fees on appeal.

What happened

In Scales v. Door Dash, the court had ordered William Scales to submit an application to proceed without paying filing fees or pay the required $405 filing fee within 30 days. The order warned that failing to do so would lead to dismissal. The caption also lists Taskem as a separate plaintiff, and the court said Taskem appeared to be Scales’s company.

Scales did neither. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar a later filing. The court also directed the clerk to enter judgment.

The court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Scales permission to proceed without paying fees for an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order on June 26, 2025.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
Scales v. Door Dash · No. 1:25-cv-02627
Judge
Laura Swain
Date
June 26, 2025

Background

On April 4, 2025, the court directed Plaintiff William Scales to either submit an application to proceed without paying filing fees or pay the $405 required fee for filing a civil action. The court gave him 30 days and warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal. The opinion’s footnote states that Scales listed Taskem as a separate plaintiff and that Taskem appeared to be his company.

What the Court Decided

Scales did not submit the fee-waiver application and did not pay the filing fee. The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The court also 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 purposes of an appeal.

Disposition

The complaint was dismissed without prejudice. The order did not address the underlying claims against Door Dash. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.

The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
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