Thomas v. Royce
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:19-cv-06781-MKV
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Thomas v. Royce, Judge McMahon granted Warren Thomas more time to appeal, while noting the case remained open after dismissal was vacated.
Warren Thomas's case remained open, and he received an extension of time to file a notice of appeal. Fee-free status was denied for an appeal from this order.
What happened
In Thomas v. Royce, Warren Thomas, who was representing himself, asked for more time to appeal an earlier dismissal of his petition as too late.
The court had already vacated that dismissal after Thomas explained that his facility had been shut down for eight days. Thomas then said he had only one hour to research the issues and had not filed his appeal on time.
Judge McMahon granted the extension because Thomas showed good cause. She said the case remained open and also denied him fee-free status for any appeal of this order.
The detailed version
- Thomas v. Royce · No. 1:19-cv-06781-MKV
- Colleen McMahon
- Dec. 18, 2019
Background
Warren Thomas filed the action without a lawyer. On August 28, 2019, the court ordered him to explain why his petition should not be dismissed as filed too late. Thomas did not initially respond, and the court dismissed the petition as time-barred on November 8, 2019.
Thomas later told the court that he could not comply because his facility had been shut down for eight days and asked for more time. On November 26, 2019, the court granted that request and vacated both the dismissal order and the civil judgment. The court also gave Thomas an additional 30 days to respond to the order to show cause.
Ruling
Thomas submitted a notice of appeal and a motion for more time to file it. The court held that the motion was filed within the period allowed for requesting an extension and that Thomas had shown good cause because he said he had only one hour to research the issues. Judge Colleen McMahon therefore granted the motion for an extension of time to file a notice of appeal.
The court emphasized that, because it had vacated the dismissal, the action remained open and the extension order did not change that ruling. It also certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of that appeal.
What the Order Did Not Decide
This order did not decide the merits of Thomas's underlying petition or whether it was ultimately time-barred. It addressed only the deadline for appealing and the fee-free status for an appeal from this order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.