Guzman v. Trump
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-08126
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Guzman v. Trump, Judge McMahon ordered plaintiff Guzman to pay fees or submit a complete application to proceed without prepayment.
Mario Marcial Guzman was required to either pay the $400 fees or submit a complete amended application within 30 days. Failure to comply would result in dismissal of the action; the order did not decide the underlying claims against Donald Trump.
What happened
In Guzman v. Trump, Mario Marcial Guzman, representing himself, sued Donald Trump. To continue the case, he needed either to pay the required fees or provide information supporting a request to proceed without paying them in advance.
Guzman submitted an application to proceed without prepayment, but it was largely blank. He did not provide most information about his employment, assets, or expenses, and disclosed only that he received an unspecified amount for disability or workers’ compensation.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered Guzman, within 30 days, to pay $400 or submit an amended application explaining why he could not pay. The court said the case would be dismissed if he did not comply, and no summons would issue at that time.
The detailed version
- Guzman v. Trump · No. 1:20-cv-08126
- Colleen McMahon
- Oct. 5, 2020
Background
Mario Marcial Guzman brought this action without a lawyer. The court explained that a person starting a civil case must either pay $400 in fees—$350 for filing and $50 for administrative costs—or submit a signed application asking to proceed without paying the fees in advance. This type of application is commonly called an application to proceed without prepayment of fees.
Guzman submitted such an application, but it was largely blank. He did not answer questions about his employment, assets, or expenses. He stated only that he received an undisclosed amount for disability or workers’ compensation. Because the application did not provide enough information about his finances, the court could not determine whether he lacked the funds to pay.
Order
The court ordered Guzman to do one of two things within 30 days of October 5, 2020: pay the $400 in fees or submit an amended application. The amended application had to provide facts showing that he could not pay the filing fees. The order directed that the amended application be labeled with docket number 20-CV-7501 (CM). If the court granted the amended application, Guzman would be allowed to proceed without paying the fees in advance.
The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order to Guzman and record that service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. If Guzman complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s procedures; if he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. Judge Colleen McMahon also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.