Mojica v. Federal Bureau of Prisons
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-05526
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Judge Swain denied Mojica v. Federal Bureau of Prisons without prejudice after Mojica failed to pay the filing fee or submit a fee-waiver application.
Jesus Mojica’s petition was denied without prejudice because he did not satisfy the filing-fee or fee-waiver requirement and did not maintain a usable mailing address. The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the other respondents were affected by the termination of this proceeding.
What happened
In Mojica v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, the court ordered Jesus Mojica to either pay the $5 filing fee for his petition or submit a completed application to waive the fee because of inability to pay.
The order sent to Mojica was returned as undeliverable, and he did not follow the court’s instructions or notify the court of a new mailing address. A later mailing to a federal detention facility was also returned.
The court denied the petition without prejudice, meaning the order did not bar a new filing. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also declined to issue a certificate allowing an appeal and denied fee-waiver status for any appeal.
The detailed version
- Mojica v. Federal Bureau of Prisons · No. 1:22-cv-05526
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 19, 2022
Background
Jesus Mojica filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, a court request concerning the legality of custody. On June 30, 2022, the court ordered him, within 30 days, either to pay the required $5 filing fee or submit a completed application to proceed without paying the fee because of inability to pay. The court warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal.
The order was returned as undeliverable to the address Mojica had provided. The Clerk’s Office later resent it to Mojica at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after a federal inmate locator indicated that he was there. That mailing was also returned, with a notation that Mojica was no longer at that facility. Mojica did not comply with the filing-fee order or notify the court of a change of address.
Ruling
The court denied Mojica’s petition without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The order therefore did not bar a new filing. The court also determined that the petition made no substantial showing that a constitutional right had been denied, so it would not issue a certificate of appealability, which is required for certain appeals in habeas cases. In addition, the court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal. The Clerk of Court was directed to enter judgment.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.