Bonilla v. Jane/John Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-02075
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Bonilla v. Jane/John Doe, Judge Swain ordered payment or a completed fee-waiver application before the habeas case can proceed.
Danny J. Bonilla, who must pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed, completed fee-waiver application within 30 days for the action to proceed.
What happened
Bonilla v. Jane/John Doe is a habeas petition filed by Danny J. Bonilla, who is representing himself. The court received only the first page of his fee-waiver application, which was nearly blank and unsigned.
The court gave Bonilla 30 days to pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed, completed application to proceed without paying the fee in advance. The court said no response from the respondent was required yet and warned that the action will be dismissed if Bonilla does not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the substance of Bonilla’s habeas petition.
The detailed version
- Bonilla v. Jane/John Doe · No. 1:22-cv-02075
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 5, 2022
Background
Danny J. Bonilla filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and is proceeding without a lawyer. To proceed in federal court, a petitioner must either pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application asking to proceed without paying the fee in advance.
Bonilla submitted only the first page of the application. The court described the submission as nearly blank and unsigned.
Order
The court ordered Bonilla, within 30 days of April 5, 2022, to either pay the $5 filing fee or complete and submit the attached amended application. The application must be signed and labeled with docket number 22-CV-2075 (LTS). If the court grants the application, Bonilla may proceed without paying fees in advance.
The court stated that no answer from Jane/John Doe was required at that time. It further stated that the action will be dismissed if Bonilla does not comply within the allowed time.
Appeal and Scope of Ruling
The court certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees in advance. Judge Laura Taylor Swain’s order addressed the filing fee or fee-waiver application; it did not decide the substance of the habeas petition.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.