Knight v. United States
Nickholas Knight, Sr. v. United States; Westchester County Superior Court; Westchester County D.O.C.; Hasting Police Department; Legal Aid Society
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-07550
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Knight v. United States, Judge Swain ordered a detained plaintiff to pay filing fees or submit a completed fee-waiver application within 30 days.
Nickholas Knight, Sr. is required to pay the filing fees or submit the specified application and authorization materials for the case to proceed. The named defendants are affected by the case's continued processing, but no summons will issue at this time.
What happened
Nickholas Knight, Sr. filed this civil action against the United States, Westchester County Superior Court, Westchester County D.O.C., Hasting Police Department, and Legal Aid Society. The order says he is detained at the Westchester County Jail and is representing himself.
The court ordered Knight, within 30 days, either to pay $405 in filing fees or submit a completed application to proceed without paying fees upfront, along with the required prisoner authorization. He had submitted the authorization but not the completed application. No summons will issue at this time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain said the case will be processed if Knight complies and will be dismissed if he does not. She also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from this order. The order did not decide the claims against the defendants.
The detailed version
- Knight v. United States · No. 1:25-cv-07550
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 12, 2025
Order and procedural posture
Nickholas Knight, Sr., who the opinion says is detained at the Westchester County Jail, filed this action without a lawyer. The opinion does not describe the claims' factual or legal basis.
Payment or application to proceed without prepayment
The court directed Knight, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay $405 in filing fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, or submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees. Knight had submitted a prisoner authorization but had not submitted a completed application. The court required the application to be labeled with docket number 25-CV-7550 (LTS).
If the court grants the application, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from Knight's account, and the facility must provide certified copies of his account statements for the previous six months. The opinion states that the $55 administrative fee does not apply to people granted this fee-waiver status.
Disposition
No summons shall issue at this time. If Knight complies with the order, 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 the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal. The order did not reach the merits of Knight's claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.