Robinson v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05588
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Robinson v. Doe, Judge Swain dismissed Israel Robinson’s complaint without prejudice after he neither paid fees nor submitted required forms.
Israel Robinson’s case was dismissed without prejudice because he did not submit the required filing documents or pay the filing fees. The court also denied fee-free status for an appeal.
What happened
In Robinson v. Doe, the court had ordered Israel Robinson to submit an application to proceed without paying filing fees, a required prisoner authorization, or the $405 filing fees within 30 days. The order warned that failing to do so would lead to dismissal.
Robinson did not submit the required documents or pay the fees. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal after finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the clerk to enter judgment. The case was dismissed because Robinson did not satisfy the filing requirements, not because the court decided the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Robinson v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-05588
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 12, 2025
Background
On July 9, 2025, the Court directed Plaintiff Israel Robinson to submit, within 30 days, a completed application to proceed without paying filing fees and a prisoner authorization, or to pay the $405 filing fees if he wished to continue the action. The Court warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal of the complaint.
Court’s Ruling
Robinson did not submit the application or prisoner authorization and did not pay the filing fees. The Court dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. “Without prejudice” means the order did not itself bar the complaint from being filed again.
The Court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The Court also directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment. The order disposed of the case based on failure to satisfy filing requirements and did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.