Gardner v. Miller
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04970
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Gardner v. Miller, Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Gardner neither paid filing fees nor submitted required forms.
Daquan Gardner's complaint against Mark Miller, C.O. Bryant, Renee Fullshire, and C.O. John Doe was dismissed without prejudice; permission to appeal without paying fees was denied.
What happened
Daquan Gardner sued Mark Miller, C.O. Bryant, Renee Fullshire, and C.O. John Doe in Gardner v. Miller. The court had ordered Gardner to submit forms requesting permission to proceed without paying filing fees and authorizing deductions from a prisoner account, or to pay the required filing fees.
Gardner did not submit the required forms or pay the fees by the deadline. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling. The opinion does not address the underlying claims.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the clerk to enter judgment and ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith, so Gardner could not proceed without paying the appeal fees. The court denied permission to proceed without paying those fees for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Gardner v. Miller · No. 1:25-cv-04970
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 15, 2025
Background
The court had previously ordered Plaintiff Daquan Gardner, within thirty days, either to submit a completed application requesting permission to proceed without paying filing fees and a prisoner authorization, or to pay the $405 required to file a civil action. The order warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal.
Failure to Comply
Gardner did not submit the application and prisoner authorization and did not pay the required fees. The opinion does not discuss the substance of Gardner's claims against Mark Miller, C.O. Bryant, Renee Fullshire, or C.O. John Doe.
Ruling
The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for purposes of an appeal. Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the clerk to enter judgment.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.