Hall v. Darwin Le Claire & Norman Bezio
- Loretta Preska
- 1:10-cv-03877
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Hall v. Le Claire, Judge Preska denied a certificate of appealability and permission to appeal without paying filing fees.
Ralph Hall, whose request for a certificate of appealability and permission to appeal without paying filing fees was denied; Darwin Le Claire and Norman Bezio are the named respondents.
What happened
Ralph Hall v. Darwin Le Claire & Norman Bezio concerns Ralph Hall’s proceeding under a federal law governing certain challenges to a court judgment. The order refers to Hall’s petition filed in 2010 and to his fourth request for reconsideration of the court’s denial of that petition.
The court refused to issue a certificate of appealability, which is required for this type of appeal when the petitioner has not substantially shown that a constitutional right was denied. The court also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Hall permission to appeal without paying filing fees.
Senior United States District Judge Loretta A. Preska issued the order on September 8, 2025, relying on the court’s August 6, 2025 decision and Hall’s failure to make the required constitutional-right showing.
The detailed version
- Hall v. Darwin Le Claire & Norman Bezio · No. 1:10-cv-03877
- Loretta Preska
- Sept. 8, 2025
Background
The order concerns a proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. The court states that Ralph Hall filed the underlying petition in 2010 and that the court previously denied it. The order also refers to the court’s August 6, 2025 decision denying Hall’s fourth motion for reconsideration of that denial.
Certificate of Appealability
A certificate of appealability is a court authorization required for an appeal from a final order in this type of proceeding. The court explained that it should issue the certificate only when the petitioner makes a substantial showing that a constitutional right was denied. That standard can be met when reasonable judges could disagree with the district court’s decision or when the issues deserve further review.
The court concluded that Hall had not made the required substantial showing. For that reason, it ruled that a certificate of appealability would not issue.
Appeal Filing Fees
The court also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied Hall permission to proceed with the appeal without paying filing fees.
Disposition
The order denied a certificate of appealability and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees. It did not address the merits of the underlying petition in this order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.