Shepard v. Bradley
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04752
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Tanzue Shepard v. Ms. Bradley, Judge Swain gave Shepard 30 days to sign the fee-waiver paperwork or face dismissal.
Tanzue Shepard, whose case must receive a signed certification page before it can be processed; the order also delays issuance of summonses and warns that the action will be dismissed if the signature is not submitted.
What happened
In Tanzue Shepard v. Ms. Bradley; County of Westchester, the court addressed a missing signature on Tanzue Shepard’s application to proceed without paying the $405 filing fee upfront. The Clerk’s Office received the application and a signature page, but the signature page was unsigned.
The court granted Shepard an additional 30 days to complete and sign the attached certification and warnings page. No summons will issue for now. If Shepard complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case; if Shepard does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also found that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal. The order was dated September 22, 2025.
The detailed version
- Shepard v. Bradley · No. 1:25-cv-04752
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 22, 2025
Background
In an August 12, 2025 order, the court directed Tanzue Shepard to submit an application to proceed without paying the $405 filing fee upfront. On September 3, 2025, the Clerk’s Office received Shepard’s completed and signed application and a signature page, but the signature page did not contain Shepard’s signature.
Order
The court granted Shepard an additional 30 days to complete and sign the attached page titled “Plaintiff’s Certification and Warnings.” The court ordered that no summons issue at this time. If Shepard complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office’s procedures. If Shepard fails to comply within the allowed period, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal-related ruling
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3), the court certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. The court therefore denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.