Patterson v. Goord
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-10367
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Patterson v. Goord, Judge McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Patterson neither paid the filing fee nor submitted required forms.
Bernard Patterson’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice because he did not submit the required filing forms or pay the $400 filing fee. The order did not decide his claims against Glen Goord or William Keyser.
What happened
In Patterson v. Goord, the court had ordered Bernard Patterson to submit an application to proceed without paying the filing fee and a required prisoner authorization, or to pay the $400 filing fee. The order warned that failing to do so would lead to dismissal.
Patterson did not submit the forms or pay the fee. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling. The court also denied permission to appeal without paying fees after certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon entered the dismissal on March 12, 2021. The order did not address the underlying claims against Glen Goord or William Keyser.
The detailed version
- Patterson v. Goord · No. 1:20-cv-10367
- Colleen McMahon
- Mar. 12, 2021
Background
On December 14, 2020, the court ordered Bernard Patterson to do one of two things within 30 days: submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying the filing fee, commonly called an IFP application, along with a prisoner authorization; or pay the $400 filing fee required to start a civil action. The court warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal of the complaint.
Court’s Reasoning
Patterson did neither. He did not file the IFP application and prisoner authorization, and he did not pay the filing fee. The court relied on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915 in dismissing the complaint. The opinion does not discuss the substance of Patterson’s claims against Glen Goord or William Keyser.
Disposition
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The Clerk was directed to mail Patterson a copy of the order and record service on the docket.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.