Afshar v. Food and Drug Administration
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-07411
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Ali Afshar v. Food and Drug Administration, Chief Judge Swain ordered payment or an application to proceed without upfront fees within 30 days.
Ali Afshar must either pay $405 or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days. Until then, the case will not proceed; failure to comply will lead to dismissal without prejudice to refiling. The Food and Drug Administration is not required to answer at this stage.
What happened
Ali Afshar submitted this civil action to the Southern District of New York by email against the Food and Drug Administration.
The court ordered Afshar, within 30 days, either to pay $405 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without paying those fees upfront. The case will not proceed, and no summons will issue, until one of those steps occurs.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that failure to comply, or to request more time, will result in dismissal without prejudice to refiling. The order also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal because the court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Afshar v. Food and Drug Administration · No. 1:25-cv-07411
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 10, 2025
Background
Ali Afshar submitted this action to the court by email. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims. To begin a civil action, a plaintiff must either pay the required fees or request permission to proceed without prepaying them through a signed application commonly called an application to proceed without fees.
Order
The court directed Afshar to take one of those steps within 30 days of the order. The required payment was $405, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, although the order noted that the fee schedule could change. The order provided instructions for paying by mail or in person.
Until Afshar paid the fees or submitted a completed and signed application to proceed without prepayment, no further action would be taken, no summons would issue, and the Food and Drug Administration would not be required to answer. If the application were granted, Afshar would be allowed to proceed without prepaying the fees.
Disposition
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that if Afshar failed to comply within the allowed time, or failed to request an extension, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling. The court did not dismiss the action in this order. It also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.