Blue Elephant Financing, LLC v. Howard
- Philip Halpern
- 7:20-cv-04969
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Blue Elephant Financing v. Howard, Judge McMahon ordered pro se defendant Howard to pay fees or apply to proceed without prepayment, or face remand.
Defendant Clinton Howard must, within 30 days, either pay $400 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment. If he does not comply, the action will be remanded to the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Westchester.
What happened
Blue Elephant Financing, LLC v. Howard concerns Defendant Clinton Howard’s removal of a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepayment.
The court gave Howard 30 days to pay $400 or complete, sign, and submit an application asking to proceed without prepayment. If he did not comply, the case would be sent back to the Supreme Court of New York, Westchester County.
Judge Colleen McMahon also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying appeal fees.
The detailed version
- Blue Elephant Financing, LLC v. Howard · No. 7:20-cv-04969
- Philip Halpern
- July 28, 2020
Background
Defendant Clinton Howard filed a notice seeking to move the case from state court to federal court without a lawyer. He did not pay the required filing and administrative fees and did not submit an application asking to proceed without paying fees in advance.
Order
The court explained that a party proceeding with a civil action in federal court must either pay $400 in fees—$350 for filing and $50 for administration—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment of fees. The court ordered Howard, within 30 days, to do one of those two things.
If Howard submitted the application, the court would decide whether to allow him to proceed without prepaying fees. The Clerk was directed to mail him the order and record service on the docket. If Howard failed to comply within the 30-day period, the action would be sent back to the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Westchester.
Appeal ruling
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
Disposition
The court ordered payment of fees or submission of an application to proceed without prepayment. The opinion does not state that the case was remanded at that time; it states that remand would occur if Howard failed to comply. Judge Colleen McMahon issued the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.