Geddes v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04534
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Geddes v. Doe, Chief Judge Swain dismissed Geddes’s complaint without prejudice because he neither paid filing fees nor submitted required forms.
Joshua Geddes’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice because he did not submit the required filing documents or pay the filing fee. The order also denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
What happened
In Geddes v. Doe, the court had ordered Joshua Geddes to submit a completed request to proceed without paying filing fees and a required prisoner authorization, or to pay the $405 filing fee. The order warned that failing to do so would result in dismissal.
Geddes did not submit the required documents or pay the filing fee. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling. The court also directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain stated that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Geddes v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-04534
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 12, 2025
Background
The court had previously ordered Joshua Geddes to do one of two things within thirty days: submit a completed application to proceed without paying filing fees and a prisoner authorization, or pay the $405 required filing fees for a civil action. The earlier order warned that failure to comply would lead to dismissal of the complaint.
Geddes did not submit the application and authorization and did not pay the fees.
Ruling
The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The order did not address the substance of Geddes’s claims. The court also directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
Appeal-fee ruling
The court 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. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims or explain what relief Geddes sought.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.