Jenkins v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-07961
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Jenkins v. Doe, Judge Swain terminated Jenkins’s premature opposition to a summary-judgment motion and denied fee-free appeal status.
Justin Jenkins’s motion was terminated, and his request to appeal without paying court fees was denied; Doe had not appeared or filed a summary-judgment motion.
What happened
In Justin Jenkins v. Doe, Jenkins filed a motion opposing a motion for summary judgment. The opinion says that Doe had not appeared in the case and had not filed a summary-judgment motion.
The court said Jenkins’s motion was premature and directed the Clerk of Court to terminate it. This order did not decide the underlying claims or whether summary judgment was proper.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Jenkins permission to appeal without paying the required court fees.
The detailed version
- Jenkins v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-07961
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 22, 2025
Background
Justin Jenkins filed a motion opposing Doe’s motion for summary judgment. The court stated that Doe had not appeared in the case and had not filed a motion for summary judgment.
Ruling
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to terminate Jenkins’s motion because it was premature. The order did not address the merits of Jenkins’s claims or decide whether summary judgment should be granted.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied fee-free status for an appeal.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.