Slater v. Eckert
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-03462
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Slater v. Eckert, Judge McMahon required a $5 fee or fee-waiver application before processing Slater’s habeas petition.
Michael A. Slater, who must pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days; otherwise, his petition will be denied.
What happened
In Slater v. Eckert, Michael A. Slater filed a petition challenging his detention but did not pay the required filing fee or submit an application to proceed without paying it in advance.
The court gave Slater 30 days to pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application asking to proceed without prepaying fees. The court said no response from the respondent was required at that time and warned that the petition would be denied if Slater did not comply.
Judge Colleen McMahon also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith, and said a certificate allowing an appeal would not issue.
The detailed version
- Slater v. Eckert · No. 1:20-cv-03462
- Colleen McMahon
- May 5, 2020
Background
Michael A. Slater, proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The opinion does not decide the substance of that petition. Slater submitted it without paying the $5 filing fee and without an application asking to proceed without prepaying court fees.
Order
The court ordered Slater, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay the $5 filing fee or complete and submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees. The application had to be signed and labeled with docket number 1:20-CV-3462 (CM). The court explained that, if it granted the application, Slater could proceed without prepaying the fee.
The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Slater a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No answer from the respondent was required at that time. If Slater complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed time, the petition would be denied.
Appeal-related rulings
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The court also stated that a certificate of appealability would not issue under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c).
Disposition
Judge Colleen McMahon directed Slater to pay the filing fee or submit the fee-waiver application. The order did not rule on the merits of Slater’s habeas petition.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.