Brown v. 46th President of the United States of America
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-01954
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Brown v. 46th President, Judge Swain ordered the unrepresented plaintiff to pay court fees or submit a complete amended application to avoid prepayment.
Damonte Brown, the plaintiff, must either pay the required fees or submit a complete amended application to proceed without prepaying them; otherwise, the action will be dismissed.
What happened
In Brown v. 46th President of the United States of America, Damonte Brown brought the case without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying court fees upfront. His application did not provide enough information about his finances for the court to decide that he could not afford the fees.
The court gave Brown 30 days to either pay $402 in filing and administrative fees or submit a fully completed amended application with facts showing that he cannot afford them. The court said no summons would issue at that time, and the case would be processed if he complied. If he did not comply, the action would be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Brown v. 46th President of the United States of America · No. 1:22-cv-01954
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 15, 2022
Background
Damonte Brown filed the action without a lawyer and submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, commonly called an IFP application. The court explained that a civil action generally requires payment of $402: a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee.
Brown's application did not establish that he was unable to pay. The opinion states that he either left questions unanswered or wrote “N/A” or “see attached.” In an attachment, Brown described himself as a “sole proprietor” and declined to answer questions about his financial circumstances, citing privacy. Because of these responses, the court could not determine that he was unable to afford the fees.
Order
The court ordered Brown, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay the $402 in fees or submit an amended IFP application. The amended application must use docket number 22-CV-1954 (LTS), be fully completed, and provide facts establishing that Brown cannot pay the fees. If the court grants the amended application, Brown may proceed without prepaying the fees.
No summons would issue at that time. If Brown complied with the order, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and classification
Judge Laura Taylor Swain 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 fee payment and the request to proceed without prepaying fees; it did not decide the underlying claims in the case.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.