Langston v. Con Edison
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-03807
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Langston v. Con Edison, Judge Swain dismissed the action without prejudice after plaintiffs neither paid filing fees nor submitted required applications.
The plaintiffs, Willour Othello Langston and Sharilyn Catherine Langston, whose action was dismissed without prejudice because they neither paid the filing fee nor submitted the required application to proceed without paying it; any appeal may not proceed without payment of fees.
What happened
In Langston v. Con Edison, the court had required Willour Othello Langston and Sharilyn Catherine Langston to either pay the filing fees or ask to proceed without paying them.
The court’s May 15, 2025 order gave the plaintiffs 30 days to comply and warned that the case would be dismissed if they did not. Neither plaintiff submitted the required application nor paid the $405 filing fee.
Judge Swain dismissed the action without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar the plaintiffs from bringing the action again. The court also denied permission to proceed without paying fees for any appeal and directed the clerk to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Langston v. Con Edison · No. 1:25-cv-03807
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 21, 2025
Background
Willour Othello Langston and Sharilyn Catherine Langston brought this civil action against Consolidated Edison, Inc., and other defendants. On May 15, 2025, the court ordered the plaintiffs, within 30 days, either to submit a completed application to proceed without paying the court’s filing fees or to pay the $405 required to file a civil action. The order stated that failing to comply would result in dismissal.
The opinion notes that the May 15 order was addressed only to one unspecified plaintiff, but it was mailed to both plaintiffs, who had the same address listed in the court record. Neither plaintiff submitted the application or paid the filing fees.
Ruling
The court dismissed the action without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for an appeal. It directed the clerk to enter judgment dismissing the action for the reason stated in the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.