Watkins v. Leak & Watts
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-00569
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Watkins v. Leak & Watts, Judge McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Watkins neither sought a fee waiver nor paid the filing fee.
The plaintiff's complaint was dismissed without prejudice for failure to submit the required fee-waiver application or pay the filing fee. The plaintiff was also denied permission to proceed without paying the fee on appeal.
What happened
In Watkins v. Leak & Watts, the court had ordered the plaintiff to submit a completed application to waive the filing fee or pay the required $400 fee within 30 days.
The plaintiff did neither. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning it was not permanently barred from being filed again.
Judge Colleen McMahon also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied the plaintiff permission to proceed without paying the appeal fee.
The detailed version
- Watkins v. Leak & Watts · No. 1:20-cv-00569
- Colleen McMahon
- Mar. 3, 2020
Background
On January 23, 2020, the court directed Plaintiff to submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee or pay the $400 required fee for a civil action. The order warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal of the complaint.
Ruling
Plaintiff 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. A dismissal without prejudice does not permanently bar the complaint from being filed again.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied Plaintiff permission to proceed without paying the fee for an appeal. The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order to Plaintiff and record service on the docket.
Effect
The order ended this case at that time because Plaintiff did not complete the required fee-waiver application or pay the filing fee. The court did not address the underlying claims against Leak & Watts or the other defendants. Judge Colleen McMahon signed the order.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.