Kellom v. Thompson
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05811
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Kellom v. Thompson, Judge Swain denied Kellom’s fee-waiver request and ordered payment or a completed fee-free application within 30 days.
Diane Kellom, who must either pay the $405 fees or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without prepaying them; failure to comply within 30 days will result in dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Kellom v. Thompson, Diane Kellom filed the case without paying the required $405 fee or submitting a completed application to proceed without paying it in advance. She filed a document arguing that the fees were unconstitutional, but it did not provide financial information or facts showing that she could not pay.
The court denied her request to waive the fees without financial information. It gave her 30 days to either pay $405 or complete, sign, and submit the required application. The court also stated that no summons would issue at that time and that the action would be dismissed if she did not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Kellom v. Thompson · No. 1:25-cv-05811
- Laura Swain
- July 21, 2025
Background
Diane Kellom brought the action without a lawyer. To proceed with a civil case in the court, a plaintiff must either pay a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, totaling $405, or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without prepaying those fees.
Kellom submitted her complaint without paying the fees. Although she submitted a document labeled “Petition to Proceed Without Court Fees,” she did not complete it with financial information. She argued that filing fees were unconstitutional and that she could not be charged a fee as a condition of exercising her rights. The submission contained no information about her financial situation or facts indicating that she could not pay.
Ruling
The court denied Kellom’s request for a fee waiver to the extent it sought a waiver without financial information. The court explained that the Supreme Court has upheld filing fees and that fees may be waived when a completed application shows that the applicant cannot pay.
The court ordered Kellom, within 30 days of the order, to either pay $405 or complete, sign, and submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees. If the court grants that application, she may proceed without paying the fees in advance. No summons would issue at that time. The court stated that the action would be dismissed if Kellom did not comply within the permitted time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.