Petroceli v. Varengold
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-01212
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Petroceli v. Varengold, Judge McMahon ordered the pro se plaintiff to pay fees or file an amended application to proceed without prepayment.
Domingos Lugao Petroceli, the self-represented plaintiff, was required to pay the fees or submit an amended application to proceed without prepayment.
What happened
In Petroceli v. Varengold, the plaintiff asked to proceed without paying the filing and administrative fees. The plaintiff filed an application, but left most questions unanswered.
The court said the application did not show that the plaintiff could not pay the required $402. The court ordered the plaintiff, within 30 days, either to pay the fees or submit a completed, signed amended application with facts showing an inability to pay.
Judge Colleen McMahon also directed that no summons issue at that time and denied permission to appeal without paying fees. The order warned that the action would be dismissed if the plaintiff did not comply within the allowed time.
The detailed version
- Petroceli v. Varengold · No. 1:21-cv-01212
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 8, 2021
Background
Domingos Lugao Petroceli brought the action without a lawyer. To proceed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, he had to pay $402 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying those fees.
Petroceli submitted an application to proceed without prepaying fees, but he did not answer most of the questions. The court therefore could not determine whether he was unable to pay the fees.
Order
The court ordered Petroceli, within 30 days of the order, either to pay the $402 in fees or submit an amended application. The amended application had to use docket number 21-CV-1212 (CM) and provide facts establishing that he could not pay the fees. The court stated that, if it granted the amended application, Petroceli could proceed without prepaying the fees.
The court directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order to Petroceli and record service on the docket. It ordered that no summons issue at that time. If Petroceli complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.