Guzman v. Trump
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-08126
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Guzman v. Trump, Judge McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Guzman neither submitted the required application nor paid the filing fee.
The dismissal ended Guzman’s complaint in this action without prejudice. The court also denied him permission to appeal without paying appellate fees.
What happened
Mario Marcial Guzman sued Donald Trump in the Southern District of New York. The court had ordered Guzman to submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee or pay the $400 filing fee within 30 days.
Guzman did neither. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims in the complaint.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice. She also denied Guzman permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Guzman v. Trump · No. 1:20-cv-08126
- Colleen McMahon
- Nov. 13, 2020
Background
On October 5, 2020, the court ordered Plaintiff Mario Marcial Guzman to do one of two things within 30 days: submit a completed amended application to proceed without paying the filing fee, or pay the $400 required to file a civil action. The order warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal of the complaint.
Court’s Ruling
Guzman did not submit the amended application and did not pay the filing fee. Chief Judge Colleen McMahon therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. “Without prejudice” means the dismissal did not bar refiling, although the opinion does not discuss any future filing.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied Guzman permission to appeal without paying the appellate fees. The clerk was directed to mail the order to Guzman and record service on the docket.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.