Rytlewski v. Government of The United States
- Laura Swain
- 1:20-cv-08823
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Rytlewski v. Government of The United States, Chief Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice after Rytlewski neither paid fees nor filed a signed fee-waiver application.
Robert Allen Rytlewski’s civil complaint was dismissed without prejudice because he did not pay the filing fees or submit the required signed application to proceed without prepayment of fees. The Government of the United States was the named defendant.
What happened
Rytlewski v. Government of The United States began when Robert Allen Rytlewski, representing himself, filed a petition seeking redress of a grievance. The court opened it as a civil case and ordered him to pay the filing fees or submit a signed application to proceed without paying them upfront.
Rytlewski did neither. Instead, he filed several submissions with titles involving veterans, military law, grievances, treason, and an appeal, but they did not comply with the court’s order. The court also noted that he had filed a similar earlier case that was dismissed for the same failure.
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Rytlewski failed to pay the filing fees or submit the required signed application. The court also denied permission to proceed without paying fees for an appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Rytlewski v. Government of The United States · No. 1:20-cv-08823
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 15, 2021
Background
Robert Allen Rytlewski, appearing without a lawyer, initiated the action by filing a document titled “Petition Government for the redress of grievance.” The Clerk opened the matter as a civil action. The court had previously ordered Rytlewski either to pay the $400 filing fees required for this action or submit a signed application to proceed without paying the fees upfront. The opinion states that the action was filed before the filing fee increased to $402 on December 1, 2020.
Failure to comply
Rytlewski did not pay the filing fees or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without prepayment of fees. Instead, he filed six submissions, including motions concerning veteran status, military law, a responsive pleading, a grievance, and treason, as well as a letter and a document titled “APPEAL.” The court found that these submissions did not comply with its October 26, 2020 order, which warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal.
The court also reviewed a prior related proceeding in which Rytlewski had challenged the characterization of his filing as a civil action and claimed that his veteran status exempted him from filing fees. That action was dismissed without prejudice for failure to pay the fees or submit a completed and signed application, and the appeal was denied. The earlier court had found that the filing was properly opened as a civil action and that Rytlewski was not exempt from the filing fees.
Ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice for failure to pay the filing fees or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without prepayment of fees. The dismissal was based on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. “Without prejudice” means the dismissal did not bar refiling, although the opinion does not state what steps would be required for any new filing.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.