Marin v. The Chancellor
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-02839
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Marin v. Chancellor, Judge Swain ordered Mel Marin to pay $402 or submit a complete fee-waiver application within 30 days.
Mel Marin, who must either pay the $402 in fees or submit a complete amended application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days; the action may be dismissed if he does not comply.
What happened
In Marin v. Chancellor, Mel Marin filed the case without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying the filing fees. He submitted financial information but did not answer several required questions about his money, assets, expenses, debts, and financial support for others.
The court ordered Marin, within 30 days, either to pay the $402 filing and administrative fees or to submit a signed amended application with complete financial information. The court said no summons would issue at that time and that the action would be dismissed if Marin did not comply.
Judge Swain also stated that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims against the defendants.
The detailed version
- Marin v. The Chancellor · No. 1:22-cv-02839
- Laura Swain
- June 15, 2022
Background
Mel Marin brought the action without a lawyer. To proceed with a civil case in the court, he had to pay $402 in fees—$350 for filing and $52 for administration—or submit a signed application to proceed without paying fees in advance.
Marin submitted a request to proceed without prepaying fees, but he did not use the court’s form or include its required language. He reported monthly income of $750 from a military pension, stated that he was living at the poverty level, and said that he had not listed account numbers because of privacy concerns. He offered to provide additional details after a sealing order.
Court’s Analysis
The court concluded that Marin’s responses did not establish that he was unable to pay the $402. The submission did not answer required questions about cash and checking or savings accounts, assets and their value, expenses, debts and other financial obligations, or financial support provided to other people. The court noted that account numbers were not required.
Because Marin had not provided complete information about his financial circumstances, the court could not conclude that he lacked sufficient funds to pay the fees.
Order
Judge Swain ordered Marin, within 30 days of the order, either to pay the $402 in fees or to complete, sign, and submit an amended application to proceed without prepaying fees. The amended application had to provide facts showing that he was unable to pay and list all sources of income, assets, and monthly expenses. If the court granted that application, Marin would be allowed to proceed without paying the fees in advance.
The court ordered that no summons issue at that time. It stated that the action would be processed under the clerk’s procedures if Marin complied, and that the action would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the allowed time. The court also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal. The order did not reach the merits of Marin’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.