Shah v. United States
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-02049
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Shah v. United States, Judge Swain dismissed B.K. Shah’s case without prejudice because he filed without required court permission.
B.K. Shah’s case was dismissed without prejudice, and he was denied permission to appeal without paying the filing fees. The United States was the named defendant.
What happened
In Shah v. United States, B.K. Shah filed a new case without a lawyer. A 2014 court order had barred him from filing new actions unless he first obtained the court’s permission.
B.K. Shah had not requested that permission. The court therefore dismissed the case without prejudice for violating the 2014 order.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also found that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the filing fees.
The detailed version
- Shah v. United States · No. 1:22-cv-02049
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 14, 2022
Background
B.K. Shah filed this case without a lawyer against the United States. The opinion states that an August 19, 2014 order barred Shah from filing any new action unless he first obtained the court’s permission to file. Shah did not seek that permission before filing this case.
Ruling
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1651, the court dismissed the action without prejudice because Shah failed to comply with the 2014 filing restriction. A dismissal without prejudice does not itself permanently bar the dismissed action from being filed again, although the opinion does not address what permission would be required for any future filing.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied Shah permission to appeal without paying the filing fees. Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to mail Shah a copy of the order and record service on the docket.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.