Tejeda v. Commissioner of Social Security
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-08326
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Robert Tejeda v. Commissioner of Social Security, Judge Swain ordered payment or a fee-waiver application and terminated the counsel motion.
Robert Tejeda, whose case must satisfy the fee or fee-waiver requirement to proceed; the motion for appointment of counsel was terminated.
What happened
Robert Tejeda filed an amended complaint but did not pay the required $405 in fees or submit a complete application to proceed without prepaying them. He instead submitted an incomplete request for appointed counsel.
The court gave Tejeda 30 days to pay the fees or submit the required application. It warned that the case would be dismissed if he did not comply and directed the Clerk to terminate his counsel motion.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain did not decide the underlying Social Security dispute. She also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from this order, finding that such an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Tejeda v. Commissioner of Social Security · No. 1:25-cv-08326
- Laura Swain
- Nov. 5, 2025
Background
In an order dated October 9, 2025, the court directed Robert Tejeda either to pay $405 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. On November 3, 2025, the court received an incomplete application seeking appointed counsel under the Criminal Justice Act. Tejeda also filed an amended complaint, but he did not pay the fees or submit the required fee-waiver application.
Order
The court ordered Tejeda, within 30 days of the November 5 order, to either pay the $405 in fees or submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees. The court stated that, if the application were granted, Tejeda could proceed without prepaying the fees. It further stated that the case would be processed through the Clerk’s Office if he complied, but that the action would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the allowed time.
The court directed the Clerk to terminate Tejeda’s motion for appointment of counsel. It 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 decide the underlying Social Security dispute.
Disposition and Classification
Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued a second order directing payment of the fee or submission of an amended application to proceed without prepaying fees, terminated the motion for appointment of counsel, and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal. This is a procedural order because it addressed filing requirements and an ancillary counsel request rather than the merits of Tejeda’s Social Security claim.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.