Saunders v. Skyes Enterprises
- Laura Swain
- 1:26-cv-06074
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Charmaine Saunders v. Skyes Enterprises, Judge Swain ordered Saunders to pay $405 or submit a fee-waiver application, or face dismissal without prejudice.
Charmaine Saunders, the plaintiff, must either pay the required fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying them within 30 days.
What happened
Charmaine Saunders v. Skyes Enterprises, Inc., et al. concerns a civil action Saunders filed without a lawyer in the Southern District of New York. She submitted a complaint but did not pay the required fees or provide an application to proceed without paying them upfront.
The court gave Saunders 30 days from July 20, 2026, to either pay $405 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. No summons will issue at this time. If Saunders does not meet the deadline, the action will be dismissed without prejudice.
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 case will proceed through the Clerk’s Office if Saunders complies with the order.
The detailed version
- Saunders v. Skyes Enterprises · No. 1:26-cv-06074
- Laura Swain
- July 20, 2026
Background
Charmaine Saunders filed this civil action without a lawyer. The complaint was submitted without either the required filing fees or an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The opinion does not describe the claims or the underlying dispute.
Order
The court explained that filing a civil action requires payment of $405: a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee. Alternatively, Saunders may request permission to proceed without prepaying fees by submitting a signed application under 28 U.S.C. § 1915. The court ordered Saunders, within 30 days of the order, to do one of those two things. Any application should include docket number 26-CV-6074 (LTS).
No summons will issue at this time. If Saunders complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If she does not comply within the allowed period, the action will be dismissed without prejudice, meaning the order does not bar refiling. The court also stated that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Disposition
The court issued an order directing payment of the filing fee or submission of an application to proceed without prepaying fees. It did not decide the merits of Saunders’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.