McIver v. Yonkers City
- Louis Stanton
- 1:20-cv-06061
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In McIver v. Yonkers City, Chief Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the pro se plaintiff to pay fees or apply to proceed without prepayment.
Tamicko Murray McIver, whose case could be dismissed if the required fees or a signed fee-waiver application were not submitted within 30 days; the defendants were not yet required to respond because no summons had issued.
What happened
In Tamicko Murray McIver v. Yonkers City, the plaintiff filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepayment because of financial hardship.
The court gave the plaintiff 30 days to pay $400 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment. The court directed that no summons be issued yet and warned that it would dismiss the action if the plaintiff did not comply.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- McIver v. Yonkers City · No. 1:20-cv-06061
- Louis Stanton
- Aug. 13, 2020
Background
Tamicko Murray McIver filed this civil action without paying the required filing fees and without submitting an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The opinion states that McIver was proceeding without a lawyer.
Payment or fee-waiver application
The court explained that starting a civil action required either payment of $400—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The court ordered McIver, within 30 days after the order, to do one of those two things. If the court granted the application, McIver could proceed without prepaying the fees.
Order and effect
The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order to McIver and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if McIver complied, but that the action would be dismissed if McIver failed to comply within the allowed time.
Appeal-related ruling
The court certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
What the order did not decide
This order addressed filing fees and permission to proceed without prepayment. It did not decide the underlying claims against the defendants.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.