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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled Aug. 25, 2020

Doe v. McFarlin

Judge
Colleen McMahon
Docket
1:20-cv-05689
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
1
Civil Procedure
In one sentence

Judge McMahon dismissed Doe v. McFarlin without prejudice because the plaintiff neither applied to waive fees nor paid the filing fee.

Who this affects

James Bond Doe, whose complaint was dismissed without prejudice for failing to submit the required fee-waiver application or pay the filing fee.

What happened

In James Bond Doe v. McFarlin, the court ordered the plaintiff to submit an application to proceed without paying the filing fee or pay the required $400 fee within 30 days. The order warned that failing to do so would result in dismissal.

The plaintiff did neither. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the plaintiff may file it again. The court also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.

Chief United States District Judge Colleen McMahon issued the dismissal on August 25, 2020, and directed the clerk to mail the order to the plaintiff and record service on the docket.

The detailed version

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

Case
Doe v. McFarlin · No. 1:20-cv-05689
Judge
Colleen McMahon
Date
Aug. 25, 2020

Background

The court had previously directed James Bond Doe to submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee or to pay the $400 required fee for filing a civil action. The July 23, 2020 order gave him 30 days to comply and warned that the complaint would be dismissed if he did not.

Court’s ruling

The court found that Doe had not submitted the application or paid the fee. It dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. This means the dismissal did not bar him from refiling the complaint.

Chief United States District Judge Colleen McMahon also directed the clerk to mail the order to Doe and note service on the docket. The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.

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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