Armstead v. Prince Andrew
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-00430
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Armstead v. Prince Andrew, Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Armstead neither paid filing fees nor submitted an IFP application.
Brenda C. Armstead’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice because she did not pay the filing fee or submit the required application to proceed without paying fees. The court did not rule on the underlying claims against Prince Andrew or the United States.
What happened
In Armstead v. Prince Andrew, the court had ordered Brenda C. Armstead to submit a completed request to proceed without paying filing fees or pay the required $402 filing fee within 30 days. The order warned that failing to do so would result in dismissal.
Armstead did neither. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling. The court also directed the clerk to terminate Armstead’s motion asking the court to disregard its earlier order.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain stated that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Armstead permission to appeal without paying fees. The clerk was directed to mail Armstead a copy of the order and record service on the docket.
The detailed version
- Armstead v. Prince Andrew · No. 1:22-cv-00430
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 18, 2022
Background
By an order dated February 1, 2022, the court directed Brenda C. Armstead to either submit a completed application to proceed without paying filing fees or pay the $402 required to file a civil action. The court warned that failing to comply within 30 days would result in dismissal of the complaint.
Rulings
Armstead did not submit the application or pay the filing fees. The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The order also directed the clerk to terminate Armstead’s motion to disregard the February 1 order.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal. The clerk was directed to mail Armstead a copy of the order and record service on the docket.
Effect
The dismissal was without prejudice, so the order did not state that Armstead was barred from filing again. The court did not decide the underlying claims against Prince Andrew or the United States.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.