Otrompke v. The First Department Committee on Character and Fitness
- Louis Stanton
- 1:20-cv-03839
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Otrompke v. First Department Committee, Chief Judge McMahon ordered John Otrompke to pay fees or apply to proceed without prepayment.
John Otrompke, who was required to pay the fees or submit an IFP application within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In John Otrompke v. The First Department Committee on Character and Fitness, John Otrompke filed a civil case without paying the required fees or submitting a request to proceed without prepaying them.
The court ordered him, within 30 days, either to pay $400 or submit a signed application showing that he seeks permission to proceed without prepaying fees. The court said no summons would issue at that time and warned that the case would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also ruled that an appeal from this order could not proceed without fees because it would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Otrompke v. The First Department Committee on Character and Fitness · No. 1:20-cv-03839
- Louis Stanton
- June 2, 2020
Background
John Otrompke brought the action without a lawyer. The complaint was submitted without the required filing fees and without an application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application.
Order
The court explained that starting a civil action required either payment of $400—$350 for the filing fee and $50 for the administrative fee—or submission of a signed IFP application under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The court ordered Otrompke to do one of those things within 30 days of the order. If he submitted an IFP application, it was to identify docket number 20-CV-3839 (CM). The court stated that, if it granted the application, Otrompke could proceed without paying the fees in advance.
No summons was to issue at that time. If Otrompke complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and disposition
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 and therefore denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order directed payment of the filing fee or submission of an IFP application; it did not resolve the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.