Bob v. Decker
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:19-cv-09590
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Bob v. Decker, Chief Judge McMahon dismissed Nata S. Bob’s petition without prejudice after Bob neither paid the filing fee nor requested a fee waiver.
Nata S. Bob’s petition was dismissed without prejudice because Bob did not pay the $5 filing fee or submit the required application to proceed without paying it. Permission to proceed without paying fees was also denied for any appeal.
What happened
In Bob v. Decker, Nata S. Bob filed a petition against Thomas Decker and other listed respondents. The opinion does not decide the petition’s underlying claims.
The court had ordered Bob to submit a request to proceed without paying the filing fee or pay the required $5 fee within thirty days. Bob did neither, so the court dismissed the petition without prejudice.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also denied Bob permission to proceed without paying fees on an appeal, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Bob v. Decker · No. 1:19-cv-09590
- Colleen McMahon
- Dec. 2, 2019
Background
Nata S. Bob filed a petition in the Southern District of New York. The respondents listed in the caption were Thomas Decker, identified as the DHS/ICE Director of Detention/Removal; the Hudson County Corrections & Rehabilitation jail warden; and medical defendants identified as John Doe. The opinion does not describe the petition’s underlying claims.
Filing-fee requirement
On October 29, 2019, the court ordered Bob either to submit a completed application to proceed in forma pauperis, meaning to proceed without paying the filing fee, or to pay the $5 fee required to file the petition. The order gave Bob thirty days and stated that failure to comply would result in dismissal. Bob did not submit the application or pay the fee.
Ruling
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the petition without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. Because the dismissal was without prejudice, the order did not bar refiling. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for an appeal. The ruling addressed Bob’s failure to satisfy the filing-fee requirement, not the merits of the petition.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.