Lopez v. Riddick
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-06677
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Lopez v. Riddick, Judge Swain ordered the petitioner to pay a $5 fee or submit a fee-waiver application within 30 days.
Vincente Lopez, the self-represented petitioner, must either pay the $5 filing fee or submit an IFP application within 30 days. Riddick was not required to answer at this stage.
What happened
In Lopez v. Riddick, Vincente Lopez filed a petition seeking a writ of habeas corpus without paying the required filing fee or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying fees.
The court gave Lopez 30 days to pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application explaining why he could not pay. The court said no response from Riddick was required at that time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that the case proceed through the Clerk’s Office if Lopez complied, but said the action would be dismissed if he did not. She also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Lopez v. Riddick · No. 1:25-cv-06677
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 16, 2025
Background
Vincente Lopez, who is proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The opinion does not decide the petition’s underlying claims. Lopez submitted the petition without paying the $5 filing fee and without submitting an application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application.
The Court’s Order
The court ordered Lopez, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $5 filing fee or complete and submit the attached IFP application. The application had to identify docket number 25-CV-6677 (LTS). If the court grants the application, Lopez may proceed without paying the fee in advance. The court stated that no answer from Riddick was required at that time.
If Lopez complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal.
Disposition
Judge Laura Taylor Swain entered an order directing payment of the filing fee or submission of an IFP application. This was a procedural order about filing requirements; it did not resolve the petition’s merits.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.