Espada v. Westchester County
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-02139
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Espada v. Westchester County, Judge McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice because plaintiffs neither paid the filing fee nor submitted fee-waiver applications.
Robert Michael Espada and Cynthia Lorraine Espada, whose complaint was dismissed without prejudice for not paying the filing fee or submitting applications to proceed without paying it.
What happened
Robert Michael Espada and Cynthia Lorraine Espada sued Westchester County and other defendants in Espada v. Westchester County. The court had ordered them to pay the required $400 filing fee or submit completed requests to proceed without paying it.
The plaintiffs did neither within the required thirty days. The opinion does not discuss the substance of their claims.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice. She also denied the plaintiffs permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Espada v. Westchester County · No. 1:20-cv-02139
- Colleen McMahon
- Apr. 14, 2020
Background
Robert Michael Espada and Cynthia Lorraine Espada brought this action against Westchester County and other defendants. In an order dated March 11, 2020, the court directed the plaintiffs, within thirty days, either to pay the $400 required fee for filing a civil action or to submit completed applications to proceed without paying the fee.
Noncompliance
The plaintiffs did not submit the applications or pay the filing fee. The March 11 order warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal of the complaint.
Ruling
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice under the federal filing-fee and fee-waiver statutes. The court directed the clerk to mail Cynthia Espada a copy of the order because she had not consented to electronic service. The court also found that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.