Berfet v. New York
- Louis Stanton
- 1:21-cv-00160
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Berfet v. New York, Chief Judge McMahon ordered Terrell Berfet to pay court fees or submit a complete request to proceed without paying within 30 days.
Terrell Berfet, who must either pay the filing fees or submit a complete amended application to proceed without prepaying them.
What happened
In Berfet v. New York, Terrell Berfet filed a civil action without a lawyer and submitted a request to proceed without paying filing fees.
The court found that Berfet had left most questions unanswered, so his application did not show that he could not pay the required $402 in fees.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon ordered Berfet to pay the fees or submit an amended application within 30 days. The order states that the action will be dismissed without prejudice if he does not comply, and that no summons will issue at this time.
The detailed version
- Berfet v. New York · No. 1:21-cv-00160
- Louis Stanton
- Jan. 12, 2021
Background
Terrell Berfet brought this civil action without a lawyer. To proceed, he had to either pay $402 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an in forma pauperis application.
Court’s Analysis
Berfet submitted an application, but he did not answer most of the questions on the form. The court therefore found that the application did not establish that he was unable to pay the filing fees.
Order
The court ordered Berfet, within 30 days of the order, either to pay the $402 in fees or submit an amended application addressing the deficiencies and providing facts showing that he could not pay. If the court grants the amended application, Berfet may proceed without prepaying the fees. The Clerk of Court was directed to send him the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. If Berfet failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling. Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.