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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled Nov. 12, 2020

Klein v. Koenig

Judge
Philip Halpern
Docket
7:20-cv-09319
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
2
Civil ProcedurePro Se
In one sentence

In Klein v. Koenig, Judge McMahon ordered Klein to pay $400 or submit an IFP application within 30 days.

Who this affects

Benjamin Klein must either pay $400 or submit a signed IFP application within 30 days; otherwise, the action will be dismissed. The defendants are not required to respond at this stage because no summons issued.

What happened

In Klein v. Koenig, Benjamin Klein filed the action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them. The order states that Klein was representing himself.

The court gave Klein 30 days to pay $400 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment of fees. The court also directed that no summons issue at that time and warned that the action would be dismissed if Klein did not comply.

Judge McMahon ordered the payment or application and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for any appeal from the order.

The detailed version

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

Case
Klein v. Koenig · No. 7:20-cv-09319
Judge
Philip Halpern
Date
Nov. 12, 2020

Background

Benjamin Klein filed this civil action without paying the filing and administrative fees and without submitting an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The order states that Klein was proceeding without a lawyer. The case names Shlomo Koenig, identified in the caption as “SECRET POLICE CHIEF (aka MODESTY SQUAD),” and other defendants.

Order

The court explained that a plaintiff must either pay $400—$350 for the filing fee and $50 for the administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment of fees, commonly called an IFP application. Klein was ordered to take one of those steps within 30 days of the order. If the court grants the application, Klein may proceed without prepaying the fees.

The Clerk of Court was directed to send Klein a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order states that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Klein complied, but that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed time.

Appeal

The court certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order does not decide the merits of Klein’s claims against the defendants.

The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
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