Kellom v. Craig B. Thompson
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05811
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Diane Kellom v. Craig B. Thompson, Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Kellom neither paid filing fees nor submitted an IFP application.
Diane Kellom’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice because she did not pay the filing fee or submit the required application to proceed without paying fees. Fee-free status was also denied for any appeal.
What happened
Diane Kellom v. Craig B. Thompson concerned Kellom’s failure to satisfy the filing requirements for a civil case in federal court. The court had ordered her to submit an application to proceed without paying filing fees or to pay the required $405 fee.
Kellom filed two affidavits, but she did not submit the required application or pay the fee. The opinion does not address the underlying claims in her complaint.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice and directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment. Judge Swain also denied fee-free status for any appeal after certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Kellom v. Craig B. Thompson · No. 1:25-cv-05811
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 3, 2025
Background
The court had previously ordered Diane Kellom, within thirty days, either to submit a completed application to proceed without paying filing fees or to pay the $405 fee required to file a civil action. The order warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal of the complaint.
Kellom later filed two documents: an affidavit invoking a common-law court under Article III and an affidavit concerning a fair and impartial trial. She did not file the required fee-waiver application or pay the filing fee.
Ruling
The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. “Without prejudice” means the dismissal itself does not bar a later filing, although the opinion does not discuss any requirements for a future filing. The court did not address the merits of the complaint.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment. She also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.