United States of America v. Stebbins
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-01676
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In United States v. Stebbins, Judge Swain dismissed the complaint as frivolous and denied fee-free appeal status.
The parties identified in the caption: the United States of America and Steven Stebbins; the judgment also affects the litigant seeking to appeal because it denies fee-free appeal status.
What happened
In United States of America v. Steven Stebbins, the court’s October 9, 2025 judgment states that it dismissed the complaint as frivolous under a federal screening law.
The court also decided that any appeal would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees.
Judge Laura Swain is identified as the judge in this matter. The judgment relies on the court’s October 8, 2025 order, whose reasoning and discussion of the underlying complaint are not included here.
The detailed version
- United States of America v. Stebbins · No. 1:25-cv-01676
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 9, 2025
What the court decided
The judgment states that, for the reasons given in the court’s October 8, 2025 order, the court dismissed the complaint as frivolous under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). This provision allows dismissal during court screening in circumstances specified by the statute.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the October 8 order would not be taken in good faith. Based on that certification, the court denied the litigant permission to appeal without paying the filing fees.
What is not shown in the excerpt
The provided judgment does not describe the complaint’s allegations, explain why the court considered it frivolous, or state whether any claims could be filed again. The caption identifies the United States of America and Steven Stebbins, but its formatting is unclear about the parties’ designations.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.