Schoonmaker v. Commissioner of Social Security
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:19-cv-10296
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Schoonmaker v. Commissioner, Judge McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice after Schoonmaker neither paid the filing fee nor submitted an application to proceed without paying.
Maryellen Schoonmaker’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice because she did not pay the $400 filing fee or submit the required amended application to proceed without paying court fees. Her request to appeal without paying fees was also denied.
What happened
Schoonmaker v. Commissioner of Social Security involved a direction to Maryellen Schoonmaker to submit an amended application to proceed without paying court fees or pay the required $400 filing fee within 30 days.
Schoonmaker did neither. The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice and denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the dismissal, directed the clerk to mail the order to Schoonmaker, and directed that service be recorded on the docket.
The detailed version
- Schoonmaker v. Commissioner of Social Security · No. 1:19-cv-10296
- Colleen McMahon
- Dec. 19, 2019
Background
The court had previously directed Maryellen Schoonmaker to do one of two things within 30 days: submit an amended application to proceed without paying court fees, or pay the $400 fee required to file a civil action. The earlier order warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal of the complaint.
Ruling
Schoonmaker did not submit the application or pay the fee. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. “Without prejudice” means the dismissal did not bar refiling based on the order itself.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees. The clerk was directed to mail Schoonmaker a copy of the order and record service on the docket.
What the Court Did Not Decide
The opinion does not address the merits of Schoonmaker’s Social Security claim. Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the case because Schoonmaker did not comply with the filing-fee or fee-waiver requirement.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.