Sutherland v. Securities and Exchange Commission
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-09233
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Colin Paul Sutherland v. Securities and Exchange Commission, Judge Swain ordered payment or a fee-waiver application within 30 days.
Colin Paul Sutherland must either pay $405 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days. The defendants are not yet required to respond because no summons has issued.
What happened
Colin Paul Sutherland filed this action without a lawyer but did not pay the required fees or submit an application to proceed without paying them in advance.
The court ordered him, within 30 days, to pay $405 or submit a signed application for authorization to proceed without prepaying fees. The court also ordered that no summons issue yet and stated that the action will be dismissed if he does not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not address the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Sutherland v. Securities and Exchange Commission · No. 1:25-cv-09233
- Laura Swain
- Nov. 5, 2025
Background
Colin Paul Sutherland brought the action without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required filing and administrative fees and without submitting an application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), meaning without prepaying the fees.
Order
The court stated that proceeding with a civil action requires either payment of $405—$350 for the filing fee and $55 for the administrative fee—or a signed IFP application under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The court gave Sutherland 30 days from the date of the order to pay the fees or submit the application, labeled with docket number 25-CV-9233 (LTS). If the court grants the IFP application, Sutherland may proceed without prepaying the fees.
No summons will issue at this time. If Sutherland complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. If he does not comply within the permitted time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order addresses filing requirements and does not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.