Smith v. Stenseth
Carl Douglas Smith v. Lisa Stenseth, Victor Wanchena, Ashlee Berts, Joshua Barnes, Branden Tatum, John Doe, and Jane Doe
- Douglas Micko
- 0:26-cv-00499
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 2
In Smith v. Stenseth, Judge Micko recommended dismissing the action without prejudice for failure to prosecute and denying Smith’s fee-waiver application as moot.
Plaintiff Carl Douglas Smith and the action he brought against Lisa Stenseth, Victor Wanchena, Ashlee Berts, Joshua Barnes, Branden Tatum, John Doe, and Jane Doe.
What happened
In Carl Douglas Smith v. Lisa Stenseth, Victor Wanchena, Ashlee Berts, Joshua Barnes, Branden Tatum, John Doe, and Jane Doe, the court had ordered Smith to pay an initial partial filing fee of $17.14 for the case to proceed. He had 21 days to pay it.
The deadline passed on February 19, 2026, and Smith had not paid the fee. The magistrate judge therefore recommended ending the case because Smith failed to prosecute it, meaning he did not follow the court’s order needed to keep the case moving.
Judge Douglas L. Micko recommended dismissing the action without prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) and denying Smith’s application to proceed without paying fees or costs as moot. The recommendation was not yet a final order or judgment, and the notice allowed objections within 14 days after service.
The detailed version
- Smith v. Stenseth · No. 0:26-cv-00499
- Douglas L. Micko
- Feb. 26, 2026
Background
On January 29, 2026, the court ordered Plaintiff Carl Douglas Smith to pay an initial partial filing fee of $17.14 if he wanted the action to proceed. The court gave him 21 days—until February 19, 2026—to pay. The earlier order stated that failure to pay would lead to a recommendation that the action be dismissed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute.
Court’s Analysis
The payment deadline passed, and Smith had not paid the required fee. The court relied on Rule 41(b), which permits a district court to dismiss an action for failure to prosecute or failure to comply with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or a court order.
Recommendation and Procedure
Judge Douglas L. Micko recommended that the action be dismissed without prejudice under Rule 41(b) for failure to prosecute. The recommendation also states that Smith’s Application to Proceed in District Court Without Prepaying Fees or Costs should be denied as moot.
The document is a Report and Recommendation, not an order or judgment of the District Court, and therefore is not directly appealable to the Eighth Circuit. The notice states that a party may file and serve specific written objections within 14 days after being served with the Report and Recommendation. A party may respond to objections within 14 days after being served with them.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.