Strujan v. New York City Hall-A Fiction
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-07822
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Strujan v. New York City Hall-A Fiction, Judge McMahon dismissed the action without prejudice because Strujan lacked required filing permission and had not paid fees.
Elena Strujan’s civil action was dismissed without prejudice. The order also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal.
What happened
In Strujan v. New York City Hall-A Fiction, Elena Strujan filed a new civil action without paying the required fees. She was representing herself and had not asked for permission to file.
The court said a November 21, 2018 order barred Strujan from filing new civil actions without paying fees unless she first obtained the court’s permission. Because she had not obtained permission, the court dismissed this action without prejudice.
Judge Colleen McMahon also stated that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for any appeal.
The detailed version
- Strujan v. New York City Hall-A Fiction · No. 1:20-cv-07822
- Colleen McMahon
- Oct. 16, 2020
Background
Elena Strujan filed a new civil action while representing herself. The opinion states that she had previously been barred from filing any new civil action in the Southern District of New York without paying the required fees unless she first obtained permission from the court. The earlier order was dated November 21, 2018.
Strujan did not pay the relevant filing fees and did not ask for permission to file under the earlier order. The opinion also states that the case was originally filed on the court’s miscellaneous docket and was later opened as a new civil action by order of Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn on September 21, 2020.
Ruling
The court dismissed the action without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. § 1651 because Strujan failed to comply with the November 21, 2018 order. “Without prejudice” means the dismissal itself does not bar a later filing, although the opinion does not state what steps would be required for any later filing.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal. The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Strujan a copy of the order and record service on the docket.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.