Pena v. New York City Department of Homeless Services
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-07506
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Timothy Pena v. New York City Department of Homeless Services, Judge Swain dismissed the action without prejudice after Pena failed to submit required materials or pay filing fees.
Timothy Pena's action against the New York City Department of Homeless Services and the other named defendants was dismissed without prejudice.
What happened
In Timothy Pena v. New York City Department of Homeless Services, the court had ordered Timothy Pena to submit a signed page for his application to proceed without paying filing fees, file a new application, or pay the required $405 filing fee. The order warned that failing to do so would result in dismissal.
Pena did none of those things within the required 30 days. The court therefore dismissed the action without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment dismissing the action for failure to comply with the filing requirements.
The detailed version
- Pena v. New York City Department of Homeless Services · No. 1:25-cv-07506
- Laura Swain
- Nov. 18, 2025
Background
The court had previously ordered Timothy Pena to do one of three things within 30 days: resubmit a signed signature page for his application to proceed without paying court filing fees; submit another such application; or pay the $405 fee required to file a civil action. The earlier order stated that failing to comply would result in dismissal.
Ruling
The court found that Pena had not resubmitted the signed page, filed another fee-waiver application, or paid the filing fee. It therefore dismissed the action without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915 and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a).
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. It directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment dismissing the action for the reason stated in the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.