Davis v. Taylor
- Laura Swain
- 1:20-cv-04610
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Davis v. Taylor, Judge McMahon vacated the dismissal, reopened the action, denied one motion, and denied appeal fee-waiver status.
William Scott Davis’s case was reopened after the prior dismissal and civil judgment were vacated. His Rule 52(b) motion was denied, and he was denied permission to appeal without paying the filing fee.
What happened
In Davis v. Taylor, the court had previously dismissed William Scott Davis’s action under a law that bars certain people from proceeding without paying filing fees after repeated qualifying cases. Davis filed six motions seeking to reopen the case and challenging that dismissal, along with a notice of appeal.
The court determined that it had authority to consider three motions filed before the notice of appeal. It granted Davis’s motions for reconsideration, vacated the dismissal order and civil judgment, and reopened the action. It denied Davis’s motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(b).
Judge McMahon also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Davis permission to proceed without paying the appeal filing fee. The order directed the clerks to send copies to Davis and to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
The detailed version
- Davis v. Taylor · No. 1:20-cv-04610
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 4, 2021
Background
The court had dismissed William Scott Davis’s action on July 8, 2020, under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). After that dismissal, Davis filed six motions to reopen the action and challenged the finding that § 1915(g) barred him from proceeding. He also filed a notice of appeal.
The post-judgment motions invoked Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52, Rule 59(e), and Rule 60(b). The court explained that a notice of appeal ordinarily transfers control over the appealed aspects of a case to the court of appeals. But certain timely post-judgment motions delay the start of the appeal period and allow the district court to decide those motions. Because Davis filed three such motions within the required period and before filing his notice of appeal, the court concluded that it had jurisdiction to consider them.
Rulings
The court granted Davis’s motions for reconsideration, vacated the dismissal order and civil judgment, and reopened the action. It denied Davis’s Rule 52(b) motion.
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 Davis permission to proceed without paying the filing fee for an appeal. The court directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order to Davis, note service on the docket, and send a copy to the Clerk of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.