Ballout v. Benchakroun
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05575
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Ballout v. Benchakroun, Judge Swain ordered pro se plaintiff Benjamin Ballout to pay fees or submit an application to proceed without prepayment.
Benjamin Ballout must either pay the $405 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days. The case may be dismissed if he does not comply, and no summons will issue at this time.
What happened
In Ballout v. Benchakroun, Benjamin Ballout filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them. The order does not describe the claims or the underlying dispute.
The court gave Ballout 30 days to pay $405, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. No summons will issue at this time, and the action will be dismissed if he does not comply.
Judge Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal. The order does not decide the merits of the case.
The detailed version
- Ballout v. Benchakroun · No. 1:25-cv-05575
- Laura Swain
- July 14, 2025
Background
Benjamin Ballout brought this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without an application to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order
The court ordered Ballout, within 30 days of the order, either to pay $405 in fees—a $350 filing fee plus a $55 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. If the court grants the application, Ballout may proceed without paying the fees in advance. The application must identify docket number 1:25-CV-5575 (LTS).
No summons will issue at this time. If Ballout complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal and Disposition
The court certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. This is a procedural order about payment of filing fees or an application to proceed without prepayment; it does not decide the merits of Ballout’s claims.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.