Stewart v. Collins
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-02622
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Stewart v. Collins, Judge McMahon ordered the petitioner to pay the filing fee or submit an application to proceed without prepayment.
Al-Fatah Stewart, who must pay the $5.00 filing fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Stewart v. Collins, Al-Fatah Stewart filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus without paying the $5 filing fee or submitting an application to proceed without prepayment of fees.
The court gave Stewart 30 days to pay the fee or submit a signed application. The court said the case would be processed if Stewart complied and dismissed if Stewart did not comply. No answer was required at that time.
Judge Colleen McMahon also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the habeas petition's underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Stewart v. Collins · No. 1:21-cv-02622
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 30, 2021
Background
Al-Fatah Stewart, proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The petition was submitted without the required $5.00 filing fee and without an application to proceed without prepayment of fees.
Order
The court ordered Stewart, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $5.00 filing fee or complete and submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment of fees. The application was to identify docket number 21-CV-2622 (CM). The court explained that, if the application were granted, Stewart could proceed without paying the fee in advance.
The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order to Stewart and record service on the docket. The court stated that no answer was required at that time. If Stewart complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures; if Stewart failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and effect
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. This order addressed filing requirements only and did not decide the merits of Stewart's habeas petition.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.