George v. County of Westchester
- Colleen McMahon
- 7:20-cv-01723
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In George v. County of Westchester, Chief Judge McMahon ordered payment of fees or an application to proceed without paying them.
Llewellyn S. George, whose case could proceed only after he paid the required fees or submitted the required application within 30 days; the order also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
What happened
In George v. County of Westchester, Llewellyn S. George filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting a completed and signed application to proceed without prepaying fees.
The court gave George 30 days to pay $400 or submit the required application. No summons would issue at that time, and the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- George v. County of Westchester · No. 7:20-cv-01723
- Colleen McMahon
- Mar. 2, 2020
Background
Llewellyn S. George brought this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed and signed application to proceed without prepaying those fees.
Order
The court explained that filing a civil action required either payment of $400—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or a signed application requesting permission to proceed without prepaying fees. The court ordered George, within 30 days, to choose one of those options. If he submitted the application, it had to identify docket number 1:20-CV-1723 (CM).
The court stated that, if it granted the application, George could proceed without prepaying fees. The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order to George and record service on the docket. No summons would issue at that time. The court stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk's procedures if George complied, and that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the permitted time.
Ruling
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. The court therefore denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.