NATHANIEL E. PEREZ GONZALEZ v. NEW YORK; CT; MA
- Laura Swain
- 1:26-cv-05963
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Nathaniel E. Perez Gonzalez v. New York, Judge Swain ordered Perez Gonzalez to pay $405 or submit an IFP application within 30 days.
Nathaniel E. Perez Gonzalez must either pay the required $405 in fees or submit a signed IFP application within 30 days for the case to proceed. The defendants have not been served because no summons has issued.
What happened
In Nathaniel E. Perez Gonzalez v. New York, Nathaniel E. Perez Gonzalez filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them.
The court gave him 30 days to pay $405 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment. No summons will issue yet, and the order states 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 fee-free status for any appeal. The order does not decide the claims against the defendants.
The detailed version
- NATHANIEL E. PEREZ GONZALEZ v. NEW YORK; CT; MA · No. 1:26-cv-05963
- Laura Swain
- July 15, 2026
Background
Nathaniel E. Perez Gonzalez brought this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting an application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), meaning without paying the fees in advance.
Payment or IFP application
The court explained that proceeding with a civil action requires payment of $405: a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee. Instead, within 30 days from the date of the order, Perez Gonzalez must either pay the $405 or submit a signed IFP application. If the court grants the application, he may proceed without paying the fees in advance. The application should identify docket number 26-CV-5963 (LTS).
Effect of the order
No summons will issue at this time. If Perez Gonzalez complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. The order does not decide the claims or address the merits of the case.
Appeal-fee ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. The court therefore denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.