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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled Jan. 5, 2022

Dockery v. KCC Protection, Inc.

Judge
Laura Swain
Docket
1:21-cv-11008
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
2
Civil ProcedurePro Se
In one sentence

In Dockery v. KCC Protection, Judge Swain ordered the pro se plaintiff to pay $402 or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees.

Who this affects

Alec Creighton Dockery, who was required to pay the filing fees or submit an application to proceed without prepaying them; KCC Protection, Inc., whose case had not yet proceeded to service.

What happened

In Dockery v. KCC Protection, Inc., Alec Creighton Dockery filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them. The order identifies Dockery as representing himself.

The court gave Dockery 30 days to pay $402, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee, or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. No summons would issue at that time, and the action would be dismissed if he did not comply. The court also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain, the Chief United States District Judge, issued the order on January 5, 2022. The order did not address the underlying claims against KCC Protection, Inc.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
Dockery v. KCC Protection, Inc. · No. 1:21-cv-11008
Judge
Laura Swain
Date
Jan. 5, 2022

Background

Alec Creighton Dockery brought this civil action against KCC Protection, Inc. The opinion states that Dockery proceeded without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting an application to proceed without prepaying fees.

Order

The court explained that a civil plaintiff must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit a signed application requesting permission to proceed without prepaying fees. The court directed Dockery, within 30 days of the order, to do one of those two things. If he submitted the application, it was to identify docket number 21-CV-11008. The court noted that, if the application were granted, Dockery could proceed without prepaying fees.

The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order to Dockery and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s procedures if Dockery complied, and that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed time.

Appeal and Disposition

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. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order. The order addressed filing-fee requirements and did not decide the underlying claims.

The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
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