Delorenzo v. Schiff
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-08594
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Delorenzo v. Schiff, Judge McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice after Delorenzo neither paid filing fees nor submitted a required application.
The dismissal directly affected Paul J. Delorenzo Jr.'s complaint against Mike Schiff and Dr. Weiss. The order also affected Delorenzo's ability to appeal without paying the appeal fee.
What happened
In Delorenzo v. Schiff, Paul J. Delorenzo Jr. filed a civil action while detained and asked to proceed without paying the filing fee. He was representing himself.
The court first directed him to submit authorization for a detained person or pay the filing fees. After learning that he had been released, the court gave him 30 days to submit a new application to proceed without paying or to pay the $400 filing fee. The order warned that failure to comply could lead to dismissal.
Delorenzo did neither, so Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice. The court also denied permission to appeal without paying the appeal fee, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Delorenzo v. Schiff · No. 1:20-cv-08594
- Colleen McMahon
- Feb. 26, 2021
Background
Paul J. Delorenzo Jr., who was representing himself, filed the action while detained in the Sullivan County Jail. With his complaint, he requested permission to proceed without paying the filing fee, but he did not submit the authorization required from a detained person.
The court initially directed Delorenzo either to pay $400 in fees or to complete and submit the required authorization. After Delorenzo was released, the court mailed that order to an alternate address he had provided. The court later directed him, within 30 days, either to submit an amended application to proceed without paying the fee or to pay the $400 filing fee. That order warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal.
Ruling
Delorenzo did not submit an amended application and did not pay the filing fees. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. “Without prejudice” means the dismissal did not bar refiling on that basis.
Judge Colleen McMahon also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the appeal fee. The Clerk was directed to mail Delorenzo a copy of the order and record service on the docket.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.