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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled June 2, 2020

Syville v. City of New York

Judge
Louis Stanton
Docket
1:20-cv-04201
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
2
Civil ProcedurePro Se
In one sentence

In Syville v. City of New York, Judge McMahon ordered the pro se plaintiff to pay $400 or submit an application to proceed without paying.

Who this affects

Alphonso Syville, who must either pay the required fee or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.

What happened

In Syville v. City of New York, Alphonso Syville filed a lawsuit without paying the required fees and without submitting an application to proceed without paying them. The order does not decide the claims against the defendants.

The court gave Syville 30 days to either pay $400 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying the fees. If the court approves the application, the case may proceed without advance payment; if Syville does not comply, the action will be dismissed. The court also directed the clerk to mail the order, and no summons would issue yet.

Judge Colleen McMahon certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.

The detailed version

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

Case
Syville v. City of New York · No. 1:20-cv-04201
Judge
Louis Stanton
Date
June 2, 2020

Background

Alphonso Syville brought this action without a lawyer. He submitted a complaint but did not pay the required $400 in filing and administrative fees and did not submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The opinion identifies the defendants as the City of New York, Iris Rodriguez, and DHS.

Order

The court ordered Syville, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. The application was to identify docket number 20-CV-4201 (CM). If the court grants the application, Syville may proceed without paying the fees in advance. If he does not comply within the allowed period, the action will be dismissed.

The clerk was directed to mail the order to Syville and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order stated that, if Syville complies, the case will be processed under the clerk's office procedures.

Appeal

The court 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 permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.

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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