Urena v. Miller
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05603
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Urena v. Miller, Chief Judge Swain ordered Jose Urena to pay the filing fee or submit an application to proceed without prepayment.
Jose Urena, who must either pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days; the action will be dismissed if he does not comply.
What happened
In Urena v. Miller, Jose Urena filed a petition asking for habeas relief, but did not pay the required $5 filing fee or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees.
The court gave Urena 30 days to pay the fee or submit a signed application. The court said the case would be dismissed if he did not comply, and no response from the respondents was required at that time.
Chief 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 order did not decide Urena’s habeas petition.
The detailed version
- Urena v. Miller · No. 1:25-cv-05603
- Laura Swain
- July 14, 2025
Background
Jose Urena, proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus against Mark J. Miller and other respondents. The opinion does not address the substance of the habeas claims.
Filing-fee requirement
The court explained that a habeas petitioner must either pay the $5 filing fee or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees by submitting a signed application. Urena submitted the petition without either the filing fee or an application.
Order
The court ordered Urena, within 30 days of the order, to pay the $5 filing fee or complete and submit the attached application. If the court grants the application, Urena may proceed without prepaying fees. The court did not require an answer from the respondents at that time and stated that the case would be processed through the Clerk’s Office if Urena complied. If he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. This order concerns the filing-fee requirement and does not decide the habeas petition’s merits.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.