Toussaint v. Regus Group Companies
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-02920
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Toussaint v. Regus Group Companies, Chief Judge Swain ordered payment or an IFP application within 30 days.
Fritz Gerald Toussaint, who must either pay the $402 in fees or submit a signed IFP application within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Toussaint v. Regus Group Companies, Fritz Gerald Toussaint filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them.
The court ordered Toussaint, within 30 days, to pay $402 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment. No summons would issue at that time, and the court said the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Chief Judge Swain also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying appeal fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Toussaint v. Regus Group Companies · No. 1:22-cv-02920
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 11, 2022
Background
Fritz Gerald Toussaint brought this civil action pro se, meaning without a lawyer. He submitted a complaint but did not pay the required filing fees and did not submit an application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), which means proceeding without prepaying fees.
Order
The court explained that proceeding with a civil action required either payment of $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submission of a signed IFP application. The court ordered Toussaint to do one of those things within 30 days of the order. If he submitted an IFP application, it had to identify docket number 22-CV-2920 (LTS).
No summons would issue at that time. The court stated that, if Toussaint complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal ruling and effect
The court certified under the federal filing-fee statute that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order addressed filing requirements and did not reach the merits of Toussaint’s claims against Regus Group Companies.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.