Carter v. Rickard
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-07097
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Carter v. Rickard, Judge Swain ordered Carter to pay the filing fee or submit an application to proceed without prepaying it.
Richard Carter must either pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed IFP application within 30 days of the order; failure to comply will result in dismissal of the action. The Warden is not required to answer at this time.
What happened
Richard Carter v. Warden Rickard concerns Carter’s petition for a court order addressing his detention. Carter is representing himself and submitted the petition without paying the $5 filing fee or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying court fees.
The court gave Carter 30 days from September 5, 2025, to pay the fee or submit a signed application. No response from the Warden is required yet. If Carter does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the substance of Carter’s petition.
The detailed version
- Carter v. Rickard · No. 1:25-cv-07097
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 5, 2025
Background
Richard Carter, who is proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims or the detention at issue. Carter submitted the petition without paying the required $5 filing fee and without an application to proceed without prepaying fees, also called an IFP application.
Court’s Order
The court ordered Carter, within 30 days of September 5, 2025, to do one of two things: pay the $5 filing fee or complete and submit the attached signed IFP application. If the court grants the IFP application, Carter may proceed without paying the fees in advance. The application requests financial information, including income, assets, expenses, dependents, and debts.
The court stated that no answer from the Warden was required at that time. If Carter complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he does not comply within the permitted time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal and Disposition
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order addressed filing-fee requirements and did not decide the merits of Carter’s habeas petition.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.