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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled Feb. 1, 2022

Suarez v. Capital One Bank NA/FC

Judge
Laura Swain
Docket
1:22-cv-00568
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
2
Civil ProcedurePro Se
In one sentence

In Joel Horta Suarez v. Capital One NA/FC, Judge Swain ordered Suarez to pay court fees or apply to proceed without paying them within 30 days.

Who this affects

Joel Horta Suarez, who filed the action without a lawyer, must either pay $402 in court fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days. If he does not comply, the action will be dismissed; no summons will issue at this time.

What happened

Joel Horta Suarez brought this case against Capital One NA/FC and others without a lawyer. He submitted a complaint but did not pay the required fees or submit an application to proceed without paying them.

The court gave Suarez 30 days to pay $402 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying the fees. No summons would be issued at that time. If Suarez did not comply, the action would be dismissed.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the order and denied permission to appeal without prepaying appeal fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.

The detailed version

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

Case
Suarez v. Capital One Bank NA/FC · No. 1:22-cv-00568
Judge
Laura Swain
Date
Feb. 1, 2022

Background

Joel Horta Suarez brought this civil action without a lawyer. He submitted a complaint but did not pay the required filing and administrative fees and did not submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees.

Order

The court explained that proceeding with a civil action required either payment of $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or a signed application to proceed without prepayment of fees, commonly called an IFP application. Within 30 days of the order, Suarez had to choose one of those options. If the court granted the application, he could proceed without prepaying the fees.

The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order to Suarez and record service on the docket. The court directed that no summons issue at that time. The action would be dismissed if Suarez failed to comply within the allowed period. The court also 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.

Disposition

Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed Suarez to pay the fees or submit an IFP application within 30 days. The order did not decide the claims' merits.

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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