Gonzalez v. Clark
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:19-cv-10542
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Gonzalez v. Clark, Chief Judge McMahon ordered payment of fees or an application to proceed without prepayment within 30 days.
Alvin Gonzalez must either pay $400 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment within 30 days; the action will be dismissed if he does not comply. The order also denies permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
What happened
In Gonzalez v. Clark, Alvin Gonzalez brought the action without a lawyer and submitted a notice of removal without paying the required fees or filing an application to proceed without prepayment.
The court gave Gonzalez 30 days to pay $400 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application showing why he should be allowed to proceed without paying those fees initially. The court said the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk of Court to assign the case to her docket and mail Gonzalez the order. She also directed that no summons issue at that time and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Gonzalez v. Clark · No. 1:19-cv-10542
- Colleen McMahon
- Nov. 15, 2019
Background
Alvin Gonzalez filed this action without a lawyer. The opinion states that he submitted a notice of removal but did not pay the required filing fees or submit an application to proceed without prepayment of fees.
Payment or fee-waiver requirement
The court explained that a civil action in the district court requires payment of $400: a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee. Under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915, a plaintiff may instead request permission to proceed without paying those fees at the outset by submitting a signed application. This type of permission is commonly called proceeding without prepaying fees.
The court ordered Gonzalez, within 30 days of the order's date, either to pay the $400 or submit the attached application, labeled with docket number 19-CV-10542 (CM). If the court grants the application, Gonzalez may proceed without prepaying the fees. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Other directions and disposition
Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk of Court to assign the matter to her docket, mail Gonzalez a copy of the order, and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The court certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion is a filing-fee and fee-waiver order, not a decision on the merits of the action.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.