Marin v. The Chancellor
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-02839
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Marin v. Chancellor, Judge Swain denied Mel Marin’s sealing request and ordered payment or a completed fee-waiver application within 30 days.
Mel Marin, the self-represented plaintiff, must either pay the $402 in fees or submit a complete fee-waiver application within 30 days for the action to proceed. The defendants are not required to respond at this stage because no summons will issue yet.
What happened
Mel Marin, representing himself, filed this action and asked to proceed without paying court fees. He submitted an incomplete fee-waiver application and then asked to seal the financial information supporting it.
The court denied Marin’s request to seal the application. It said he did not need to provide account numbers or financial records, but needed to complete the court’s form and answer questions about his income, assets, expenses, debts, and financial support for others.
Within 30 days, Marin must either pay $402 or submit a completed and signed fee-waiver application. No summons will issue yet, and the action will be dismissed if he does not comply. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Marin v. The Chancellor · No. 1:22-cv-02839
- Laura Swain
- July 18, 2022
Background
Mel Marin brought this action without a lawyer. To proceed, he had to pay $402 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application asking to proceed without paying those fees, commonly called an application to proceed without prepayment of fees. Marin submitted an incomplete application rather than the court’s required form. He said he withheld account numbers and other information because of privacy concerns and would provide details after a sealing order.
The court previously directed Marin to submit an amended application addressing whether he had cash or money in checking or savings accounts, other assets and their value, expenses, debts or other financial obligations, and anyone he financially supported. Marin instead asked the court to seal the financial records he wanted to submit and to amend the earlier order.
Court’s Analysis
The court explained that the public generally has a right to inspect court documents under both common law and the First Amendment. That right is not absolute, but a person seeking to seal court documents must overcome a strong presumption favoring public access and must show why sealing is justified.
The court found that Marin had not made that showing. It stated that he did not need to submit financial records or provide account numbers. He only needed to complete the required application and answer the questions needed to determine whether he qualified to proceed without prepaying fees. The court also found that the cases Marin cited concerning financial records and documents containing Social Security numbers did not apply to his request.
Ruling and Effect
The court denied Marin’s request to seal his application. It ordered him, within 30 days of the order, to either pay $402 or complete, sign, and submit the attached application under docket number 22-CV-2839 (LTS). The application must identify all sources of income, assets, and monthly expenses, but need not include account numbers. If the court grants the application, Marin may proceed without prepaying the fees.
No summons will issue at this time. If Marin complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the action under its procedures. If he does not comply within the permitted time, the action will be dismissed. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.