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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled Feb. 3, 2020

Hill v. United States of America

Judge
Colleen McMahon
Docket
1:20-cv-00712
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
2
Civil ProcedurePro Se
In one sentence

In Hill v. United States, Judge McMahon ordered William Hill to pay fees or request permission to proceed without prepaying them within 30 days.

Who this affects

William Hill, who filed the action without a lawyer or the required payment or fee application.

What happened

In Hill v. United States, William Hill filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them. The listed defendants are the United States, Sven Olson, and Vincent Illuzzi.

The court gave Hill 30 days to pay $400 or submit a signed application asking to proceed without prepaying the fees. The court said no summons would be issued at that time and warned that it would dismiss the action if Hill did not comply.

Judge Colleen McMahon also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order did not address the underlying claims.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
Hill v. United States of America · No. 1:20-cv-00712
Judge
Colleen McMahon
Date
Feb. 3, 2020

Background

William Hill filed this civil action without paying the required filing and administrative fees and without submitting an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The opinion identifies Hill as proceeding without a lawyer. The defendants are the United States of America, Sven Olson, and Vincent Illuzzi.

Order

The court explained that a plaintiff must either pay $400 in fees—$350 for filing and $50 for administration—or submit a signed application requesting permission to proceed without prepaying fees. The court ordered Hill, within 30 days of the order, to do one of those two things. If he submitted the application, it had to identify docket number 20-CV-0712 (CM). The court stated that, if it granted the application, Hill could proceed without prepaying fees.

The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Hill a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that it would process the case under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Hill complied, and that it would dismiss the action if he failed to comply within the allowed time.

Disposition

This was a procedural order about payment of fees or an application to proceed without prepaying them; it did not decide the underlying claims. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. Judge Colleen McMahon signed the order.

The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
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