Doe v. McFarlin
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-05689
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Doe v. McFarlin, Judge McMahon ordered the pro se plaintiff to pay filing fees or submit an IFP application.
James Bond Doe, who must either pay the required fees or submit an application to proceed without prepayment within 30 days to avoid dismissal without prejudice. The defendants were not addressed on the merits.
What happened
In James Bond Doe v. State of Vermont and Andrew J. McFarlin, the plaintiff filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them.
The court gave the plaintiff 30 days from July 23, 2020, to pay $400 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment. The clerk was directed to mail the order, and no summons would issue at that time.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered that the case would be processed if the plaintiff complied; otherwise, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling. She also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Doe v. McFarlin · No. 1:20-cv-05689
- Colleen McMahon
- July 23, 2020
Background
James Bond Doe brought the action without a lawyer. The complaint was submitted without the $400 required to begin a civil action in the court—$350 for the filing fee and $50 for the administrative fee—and without an application to proceed without prepaying those fees.
Order
The court directed Doe, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 or submit the attached signed application for permission to proceed without prepayment of fees. The application was to identify docket number 20-CV-5689. The clerk was directed to mail the order to Doe and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time.
Effect and disposition
If Doe complied, the case would be processed under the clerk’s office procedures. If Doe did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. Judge Colleen McMahon did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.