Mallgren v. United States
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05990
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Mallgren v. United States, Judge Swain dismissed the action without prejudice because Mallgren did not obtain required permission to proceed without paying filing fees.
Anthony Brian Mallgren’s action was dismissed without prejudice. The order also prevents him from appealing without paying the required fees unless that ruling is changed.
What happened
In Mallgren v. United States, Anthony Brian Mallgren filed a new civil action without paying the filing fees. The court treated this as a request to proceed without paying those fees.
A 2016 order had barred Mallgren from filing future civil actions without paying fees unless he first obtained the court’s permission. Mallgren did not request that permission before filing this action.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed the action without prejudice for violating the earlier order. The court also denied Mallgren permission to appeal without paying fees and directed the Clerk of Court to enter a civil judgment.
The detailed version
- Mallgren v. United States · No. 1:25-cv-05990
- Laura Swain
- July 23, 2025
Background
The court stated that a May 4, 2016 order barred Mallgren from filing any future civil action in the Southern District of New York without paying the filing fees unless he first obtained the court’s permission. That earlier order was issued because of Mallgren’s history of litigation that the court described as frivolous, vexatious, or otherwise lacking merit in this and other federal courts.
Mallgren did not pay the fees needed to begin this action. The court therefore assumed that he sought permission to proceed without paying them. He did not, however, ask the court for permission to file the action as required by the earlier filing injunction.
Ruling
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1651, the court dismissed the action without prejudice because Mallgren failed to comply with the earlier injunction. The court stated that Mallgren could move to reopen the action if he paid the filing fees within 30 days of the order.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees. It directed the Clerk of Court to enter a civil judgment.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.