DeRouseau v. Family Court
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-08716
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In DeRouseau v. Family Court, Judge Swain reopened the case by vacating its dismissal and judgment, while denying appeal-related fee-free status.
The ruling directly affects Kyle G. DeRouseau by vacating the dismissal and judgment and reopening his case. It also affects the Family Court and the other defendants because the action remains open, but the opinion does not describe their positions or any ruling on the underlying claims.
What happened
In DeRouseau v. Family Court, Kyle G. DeRouseau sued the Family Court and other defendants without a lawyer. The court had required him either to pay the filing fees or apply to proceed without paying them, but he did neither by the deadline, so the court dismissed the action without prejudice.
DeRouseau later submitted an application to proceed without paying the fees and filed a notice of appeal. The court treated the application as also asking it to reconsider the dismissal. Because the application was filed only a few days late and no defendant appeared to be prejudiced, the court granted the application to vacate the dismissal and judgment and reopened the case.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk to vacate the November 29, 2021 dismissal and judgment and reopen the action. The court said it would decide the application to proceed without paying fees in a separate order, transmitted the order to the Court of Appeals, and denied fee-free status for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- DeRouseau v. Family Court · No. 1:21-cv-08716
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 14, 2022
Background
Kyle G. DeRouseau brought this action without a lawyer against Family Court and other defendants. In an October 26, 2021 order, the court directed him within 30 days either to pay the $402 filing fees or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees. DeRouseau did neither, and on November 29, 2021, the court dismissed the action without prejudice.
Motion and analysis
On December 3, 2021, DeRouseau filed an application to proceed without prepaying fees and a notice of appeal. The court treated the application as also containing a motion under Rule 59(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which allows a party to ask the court to reconsider a judgment. Because the motion was filed within a few days of the dismissal and judgment, the notice of appeal did not become effective until the district court ruled on the motion.
DeRouseau did not explain why he missed the original deadline. The court nevertheless noted that the application was only a few days late, that there was no apparent prejudice to any defendant, and that DeRouseau could otherwise simply refile the action. The court concluded that little would be gained by requiring him to do so.
Ruling
The court granted DeRouseau’s application to vacate the order of dismissal and judgment and reopen the matter. It directed the Clerk to vacate the November 29, 2021 dismissal and judgment and to reopen the action. The court stated that it would address DeRouseau’s application to proceed without prepaying fees by separate order. It also directed the Clerk to send a copy of this order to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims against the defendants.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.