Bizelia v. Clinton Towers Management
- John Cronan
- 1:20-cv-08065
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Bizelia v. Clinton Towers Management, Judge McMahon ordered plaintiffs to pay fees or submit missing applications to proceed without prepayment.
Jack Bizelia, Hripsime Harutyuyan, and Anahit Matevosyan, who were required to pay the filing fees or complete the required applications before the case could proceed.
What happened
In Bizelia v. Clinton Towers Management, three plaintiffs brought a civil case without lawyers in the Southern District of New York.
Jack Bizelia submitted an application to proceed without paying fees upfront, but Hripsime Harutyuyan and Anahit Matevosyan did not. The court gave the plaintiffs 30 days to pay $400 or have the two missing plaintiffs submit applications.
Judge Colleen McMahon ordered that the case would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling if the plaintiffs did not comply. The court also directed that no summons issue at that time and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
The detailed version
- Bizelia v. Clinton Towers Management · No. 1:20-cv-08065
- John Cronan
- Oct. 7, 2020
Background
The plaintiffs brought the action without lawyers. To begin a civil case in the court, they had to either pay a $400 fee—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without paying the fees upfront. This type of application is called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, or IFP.
Jack Bizelia submitted an IFP application. Hripsime Harutyuyan and Anahit Matevosyan did not.
Order
The court ordered the plaintiffs, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 in fees or have Hripsime Harutyuyan and Anahit Matevosyan each submit an IFP application labeled with docket number 20-CV-8065 (CM). If the court grants those applications, the plaintiffs may proceed without paying the fees upfront.
If the plaintiffs did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling. The court directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order to the plaintiffs and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time.
Appeal and disposition
Judge Colleen McMahon certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. This order addressed filing-fee requirements and did not decide the underlying claims against Clinton Towers Management.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.