Byfield v. New York City Department of Education
- Katherine Failla
- 1:22-cv-05869
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Byfield v. New York City Department of Education, Judge Swain ordered Megan S. Byfield to pay fees or submit a complete financial application.
Megan S. Byfield, who must either pay the court fees or submit a complete amended application to proceed without prepaying them; the case may be dismissed if she does not comply.
What happened
In Byfield v. New York City Department of Education, Megan S. Byfield filed the case without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying court fees upfront.
Byfield submitted only the second page of the two-page application, so the court could not determine whether she was unable to pay the required $402 in fees.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered Byfield, within 30 days, to either pay the fees or submit a completed and signed application. The court said the case would be dismissed if she did not comply, and no summons would issue yet.
The detailed version
- Byfield v. New York City Department of Education · No. 1:22-cv-05869
- Katherine Failla
- July 12, 2022
Background
Megan S. Byfield brought this action without a lawyer. To proceed, she had to pay $402 in court fees—$350 for filing and $52 for administration—or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without prepaying those fees, commonly called an IFP application.
Byfield submitted only the second page of the two-page IFP form. The court found that her responses did not establish that she was unable to pay the fees.
Order
The court ordered Byfield to do one of two things within 30 days of July 12, 2022: pay the $402 in fees, or complete, sign, and submit an amended IFP application addressing the missing information. If the court grants the amended application, Byfield may proceed without prepaying the fees.
The court directed that no summons issue at that time. It stated that the action would be processed through the Clerk’s Office if Byfield complied, but would be dismissed if she failed to comply within the allowed time. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.