Kellier v. Berke
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-02504
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Kellier v. Berke, Judge Swain ordered Joshua Kellier to pay fees or submit an application to proceed without prepayment.
Joshua Kellier, who must either pay the required fees or submit an application to proceed without prepayment within 30 days; the action may be dismissed if he does not comply.
What happened
Kellier v. Berke is a case brought by Joshua Kellier, who is representing himself, against Mr. Berke and a Bailiff’s Appellate Division Judge. Kellier submitted his complaint without paying the required fees or filing an application to proceed without prepayment.
The court gave Kellier 30 days from March 30, 2022, to either pay $402 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment. No summons will issue yet, and the case will be processed if he complies. If he does not comply on time, the action will 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 proceed without prepaying appeal fees. The order did not address the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Kellier v. Berke · No. 1:22-cv-02504
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 30, 2022
Background
Joshua Kellier brought the action without a lawyer. The opinion identifies the defendants as Mr. Berke and a Bailiff’s Appellate Division Judge. Kellier submitted the complaint without paying the required filing fees and without submitting an application to proceed without prepayment of fees.
Order
The court explained that a civil action requires either payment of $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or a signed application requesting permission to proceed without prepayment under 28 U.S.C. § 1915. The court ordered Kellier, within 30 days of the order, to do one of those two things. If he submits the application, it must identify docket number 22-CV-2504 (LTS). If the court grants the application, he may proceed without prepaying the fees.
No summons will issue at this time. If Kellier complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order did not decide the merits of Kellier’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.