Watkins v. Monroe College
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-03533
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Watkins v. Monroe College, Judge Swain dismissed the action and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
Jevon D. Watkins, whose action was dismissed and whose request to appeal without paying court fees was denied; the listed defendants were Monroe College, Terry Karg, former Dean Ginese, John Doe, and College President Jerome.
What happened
Watkins v. Monroe College was dismissed in a July 11, 2025, civil judgment. The judgment gives no details about the dismissal’s reasons and refers instead to a July 8 order that is not included here.
The court also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied the plaintiff permission to appeal without paying court fees. The judgment does not state whether the dismissal permits refiling.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the judgment as Chief United States District Judge.
The detailed version
- Watkins v. Monroe College · No. 1:25-cv-03533
- Laura Swain
- July 11, 2025
What the court decided
The court entered a civil judgment dismissing the action. It stated that the reasons were provided in a July 8, 2025, order, but that order is not included in the supplied opinion text. The judgment therefore does not reveal the basis for the dismissal or whether the court reached the merits of the claims.
Appeal-related ruling
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the judgment would not be taken in good faith. Based on that certification, it denied the plaintiff in-forma-pauperis status for an appeal, meaning the plaintiff could not appeal under that fee-waiver status. The court cited Coppedge v. United States for the standard that good faith exists when an appellant seeks review of a nonfrivolous issue.
Disposition
The action was dismissed. The appeal-related in-forma-pauperis status was denied. The supplied judgment does not state whether the dismissal was with or without prejudice.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.