Rivera v. C.O. Skinner
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05455
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
Rivera v. C.O. Skinner: Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Rivera neither paid filing fees nor submitted required forms.
Jimmy Rivera’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice because he did not submit the required fee-waiver and prisoner-authorization forms or pay the filing fee.
What happened
In Rivera v. C.O. Skinner, the court had ordered Jimmy Rivera to submit forms requesting permission to proceed without paying the filing fee and a required prisoner authorization, or to pay the $405 filing fee.
Rivera did not submit the forms or pay the fee. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling. The court did not address the complaint’s underlying claims.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying appeal fees. She directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Rivera v. C.O. Skinner · No. 1:25-cv-05455
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 12, 2025
Background
On July 1, 2025, the court directed Jimmy Rivera, within 30 days, either to submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee and a prisoner authorization or to pay the $405 required filing fee. The order warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal of the complaint.
Ruling
The court found that Rivera had neither submitted the required application and authorization nor paid the filing fee. It therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The opinion does not address the merits of Rivera’s claims.
The court 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 permission to proceed without paying appeal fees. Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.