Clark v. Jordan
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-04937
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Clark v. Jordan, Judge Swain required Jahmel Clark to amend his fee-waiver application or pay filing fees before the case could proceed.
Jahmel Clark, who must either provide additional financial information in an amended fee-waiver application or pay the $402 filing fee for the action to proceed; the defendant’s name will be corrected to “Lt. Jordan.”
What happened
In Clark v. Jordan, Jahmel Clark asked to bring the action without paying filing fees and told the court that a page was missing from his complaint. He also asked the court to correct the first defendant’s name from “Lt. Jordant” to “Lt. Jordan.”
The court found that Clark’s fee-waiver application did not report a $1,450 settlement payment from an earlier action or explain what happened to those funds. The court therefore required him, within 30 days, either to submit an amended application with the missing financial information or to pay the $402 filing fee. No summons would issue yet.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the Clerk to correct the defendant’s name and said a missing complaint page could be treated as a supplement. The court warned that the action would be dismissed if Clark did not comply, and denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Clark v. Jordan · No. 1:22-cv-04937
- Laura Swain
- July 6, 2022
Background
Jahmel Clark filed this action without a lawyer and sought permission to proceed without paying the $402 filing fee. The court had previously directed him either to pay the fee or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees. Clark submitted that application and a letter stating that a page was missing from his complaint and that the first defendant’s name should be corrected from “Lt. Jordant” to “Lt. Jordan.”
Financial-Eligibility Issue
The court found that Clark’s application did not disclose all of his income sources during the preceding 12 months. In particular, court records showed that, in an earlier action he brought under the name “Jamel Clark,” he agreed to settle for $1,450. A letter in that action stated that the settlement was paid on January 26, 2022. Clark did not report that payment in the present application or explain what had happened to the funds.
Because of the missing information, the court could not determine that Clark was unable to pay the filing fee. The court therefore directed him, within 30 days of the order, either to complete, sign, and submit an amended application providing the required financial facts or to pay the $402 fee. If the court grants the amended application, Clark may proceed without prepaying fees. The court also warned that it may dismiss the action if it determines that his claim of poverty is untrue.
Other Directions and Disposition
The court directed the Clerk of Court to correct the defendant’s name to “Lt. Jordan.” It stated that any missing complaint page submitted by Clark would be treated as a supplement to the complaint. No summons would issue at that time. If Clark complied, the action would proceed through the Clerk’s Office’s regular procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.
The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims in the complaint.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.