Pedotti v. Mount Sinai
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-06199
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Pedotti v. Mount Sinai, Judge Swain ordered the pro se plaintiff to pay fees or submit an application to proceed without prepayment.
The pro se plaintiff, who was required to pay the filing fees or submit an application to proceed without prepaying them before the case could proceed.
What happened
In Pedotti v. Mount Sinai, the plaintiff filed a complaint without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them. The court explained that proceeding requires either paying $402 or requesting permission to proceed without prepayment.
The court gave the plaintiff 30 days from August 16, 2022, to pay the fees or submit a signed application. No summons would issue at that time, and the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if the plaintiff complied. If the plaintiff did not comply within the deadline, the action would be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to proceed without prepayment for any appeal, finding that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. The order did not address the claims’ underlying merits.
The detailed version
- Pedotti v. Mount Sinai · No. 1:22-cv-06199
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 16, 2022
Background
The plaintiff brought the action without a lawyer. The complaint was submitted without the required filing fees and without an application to proceed without prepaying fees, sometimes called an IFP application.
Court’s Order
The court explained that filing a civil action required either payment of $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submission of a signed application requesting permission to proceed without prepayment. The court ordered the plaintiff, within 30 days of the order, to take one of those two steps. If the plaintiff submitted the application, it was to identify docket number 22-CV-6199 (LTS). If the court granted the application, the plaintiff would be allowed to proceed without prepaying the fees.
No summons would issue at that time. If the plaintiff complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If the plaintiff failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to proceed without prepayment for purposes of an appeal.
Disposition and Scope
This order addressed the filing-fee or fee-waiver requirement and initial case processing. It did not decide the underlying claims against the defendants.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.