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

Thomas v. Warden

Judge
Colleen McMahon
Docket
1:20-cv-03247
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
1
Civil Procedure
In one sentence

In Thomas v. Warden, Judge McMahon dismissed Glenn Thomas’s complaint without prejudice because he neither paid filing fees nor submitted required forms.

Who this affects

Glenn Thomas’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice because he did not submit the required filing forms or pay the filing fees. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal.

What happened

Glenn Thomas sued the Warden in Thomas v. Warden, but the court did not reach the substance of his claims.

The court had ordered Thomas to submit an application to proceed without paying the filing fee, a prisoner authorization, or the required filing fees within thirty days. He did none of these things.

Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice and denied permission to appeal without paying fees because the court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.

The detailed version

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

Case
Thomas v. Warden · No. 1:20-cv-03247
Judge
Colleen McMahon
Date
July 2, 2020

Background

On April 28, 2020, the court ordered Glenn Thomas to submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee and a prisoner authorization, or to pay the $400 filing fees required to file a civil action. The order warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal.

Thomas did not submit the required application and authorization, and he did not pay the filing fees.

Ruling

Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. Because the dismissal resulted from Thomas’s failure to satisfy the filing requirements, the court did not decide the underlying claims. The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Thomas permission to appeal without paying filing fees.

Effect

The complaint was dismissed without prejudice. The opinion directed the Clerk of Court to mail Thomas a copy of the order and record service on the docket.

The authoritative version

Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
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