Christian v. New York City Commissioner of Department of Social Services John…
Christian v. New York City Commissioner of Department of Social Services John Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-00535
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Christian v. Doe, Judge Swain dismissed Bryan Christian’s complaint without prejudice after he neither applied to proceed without paying fees nor paid the filing fees.
Bryan Christian's complaint was dismissed without prejudice because he did not submit the required application to proceed without paying filing fees or pay the $402.00 filing fee. His request to appeal without paying fees was also denied.
What happened
In Christian v. New York City Commissioner of Department of Social Services John Doe, the court had ordered Bryan Christian to submit an application to proceed without paying filing fees or pay the required $402.00. The order warned that failing to do so would result in dismissal.
Christian did not submit the application or pay the fees. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling. The court’s order did not decide the underlying claims.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Christian permission to appeal without paying fees.
The detailed version
- Christian v. New York City Commissioner of Department of Social Services John… · No. 1:22-cv-00535
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 23, 2022
Background
By an order dated January 21, 2022, the court directed Bryan Christian to submit a completed application to proceed without paying filing fees or pay the $402.00 filing fee required for a civil action. The order stated that failure to comply would result in dismissal of the complaint.
Ruling
Christian neither submitted the application nor paid the filing fee. The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The dismissal was based on the failure to comply with the filing-fee requirement, not on a decision about the underlying claims.
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. It therefore denied permission to appeal without paying fees. The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Christian a copy of the order and note service on the docket.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.