Henry Jackson v. Lightly Most Favorable to Finola Discovery, et al.
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-08140
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Henry Jackson v. Lightly Most Favorable to Finola Discovery, Chief Judge Swain dismissed Jackson’s case without prejudice for failing to obtain filing permission.
Henry Jackson’s newly filed civil action was dismissed without prejudice because he filed it without first obtaining the permission required by an earlier court order.
What happened
In Henry Jackson v. Lightly Most Favorable to Finola Discovery, Henry Jackson filed a new civil case without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying the filing fee. An earlier court order barred him from filing new cases without that fee unless he first obtained permission from the court.
Jackson had not asked for that permission before filing this case. The court therefore dismissed the case without prejudice because he did not comply with the earlier filing restriction.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Jackson permission to proceed without paying the appeal fee. The court directed the clerk to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Henry Jackson v. Lightly Most Favorable to Finola Discovery, et al. · No. 1:25-cv-08140
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 20, 2025
Background
Henry Jackson filed this new civil action without a lawyer and requested permission to proceed without paying the filing fee. The opinion states that, in a prior related proceeding, the court had barred Jackson from filing any new civil action in the Southern District of New York without first obtaining leave of court. The earlier order applied to filings made without paying the filing fee.
Reason for dismissal
Jackson had not sought leave before filing this action. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1651, the court dismissed the action without prejudice for failing to comply with the earlier filing restriction. Because the dismissal was based on the filing requirement, the opinion did not decide the underlying merits of Jackson’s claims.
Other rulings
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Jackson permission to proceed without paying the fee for an appeal. The court also directed the clerk to enter judgment. Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.