Petroceli v. IronFX
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:21-cv-01210
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Petroceli v. IronFX, Judge McMahon ordered the pro se plaintiff to pay $402 or file an amended fee-waiver application within 30 days.
Domingos Lugao Petroceli, who must either pay the $402 fees or submit an adequate amended application within 30 days to avoid dismissal without prejudice.
What happened
In Petroceli v. IronFX, Domingos Lugao Petroceli brought a civil action without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying the court fees. His application did not answer most questions and did not show whether he could pay.
The court ordered Petroceli to pay $402 or submit a signed, amended application explaining facts showing that he could not afford the fees. The court also directed the Clerk to mail him the order, and no summons would issue at that time.
Judge Colleen McMahon stated that failure to comply within 30 days would result in dismissal of the action without prejudice, meaning Petroceli could refile it. The court also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Petroceli v. IronFX · No. 1:21-cv-01210
- Colleen McMahon
- Feb. 10, 2021
Background
Domingos Lugao Petroceli brought the action pro se, meaning without a lawyer. To proceed with a civil case in the Southern District of New York, a plaintiff must either pay a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee, for a total of $402, or submit an application requesting permission to proceed without paying the fees in advance.
Petroceli submitted an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The court found that his answers did not establish that he was unable to pay and that he had left most of the application’s questions unanswered. Because of those deficiencies, the court could not determine whether he could pay the required fees.
Order
The court ordered Petroceli, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 in fees or submit an amended application. The amended application had to be signed, labeled with docket number 21-CV-1210 (CM), and provide facts showing that he could not afford the filing fees.
The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order to Petroceli and record service on the docket. The court directed that no summons issue at that time. If Petroceli did not comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for that appeal.
Classification and effect
This is a procedural order concerning the filing fee or an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The court did not decide the underlying claims against IronFX.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.