Bey v. Officer Badge 1149
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-06996
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Bey v. Officer Badge 1149, Judge Swain required the plaintiff to pay fees or submit a complete application to proceed without prepayment.
E’Jai Bey, the self-represented plaintiff, must either pay the $402 filing and administrative fees or submit a complete amended application to proceed without prepaying them within 30 days.
What happened
E’Jai Bey, representing himself, brought Bey v. Officer Badge 1149 in the Southern District of New York. He submitted an application asking to proceed without paying the filing fees upfront, but the application did not fully describe his financial situation.
The court said Bey had not answered whether he was employed or explained his income and expenses. Because the court could not determine whether he could pay, it did not rule on his application. The court ordered him, within 30 days, to either pay $402 in fees or submit an amended application with complete information. No summons would issue at that time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that the case would be processed if Bey complied, but would be dismissed if he did not. Judge Swain also stated that an appeal from the order would not be considered made in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Bey v. Officer Badge 1149 · No. 1:22-cv-06996
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 30, 2022
Background
E’Jai Bey filed this civil action without a lawyer. To begin a civil case in the federal court, a plaintiff generally must pay $402 in filing and administrative fees or submit an application to proceed without prepaying those fees. This is commonly called proceeding in forma pauperis, or IFP.
Bey submitted an IFP application, but the court found that it was incomplete. He did not answer the question asking for his employer’s name and address, if he was employed. Although he reported zero monthly wages, zero take-home pay, and zero money in the bank, he did not provide enough information about income sources or how he paid his expenses.
Court’s analysis and order
Because the application did not provide sufficient information about Bey’s current financial situation, the court stated that it could not rule on his IFP application. The court ordered Bey to do one of two things within 30 days of the order: pay the $402 in fees or submit an amended IFP application answering all questions and providing facts showing that he could not pay the fees.
The court directed that no summons issue at that time. If Bey complied with the order, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. The court also certified that any 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.