Mercer v. Westchester Medical Center
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-07134
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Mercer v. Westchester Medical Center, Chief Judge Swain ordered Mercer to pay fees or submit an IFP application within 30 days.
Robert Mercer, who must either pay the required fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment within 30 days; the action may be dismissed if he does not comply.
What happened
Robert Mercer sued Westchester Medical Center without a lawyer in Mercer v. Westchester Medical Center. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without an application to proceed without prepaying them.
The court ordered Mercer, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment. The court stated that no summons would issue at that time and that the case would proceed through the Clerk’s Office if Mercer complied.
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the order. She stated that the action would be dismissed if Mercer did not comply within the allowed time and denied fee-free status for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Mercer v. Westchester Medical Center · No. 1:22-cv-07134
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 31, 2022
Background
Robert Mercer brought this civil action against Westchester Medical Center without a lawyer. The opinion states that Mercer submitted the complaint without paying the required filing fees and without submitting an application to proceed without prepayment of fees.
Order
The court explained that proceeding with a civil action required either payment of $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or a signed application requesting permission to proceed without prepaying fees. The court ordered Mercer to complete one of those two options within 30 days of the order. If Mercer submitted the application, it was to identify docket number 22-CV-7134 (LTS). The court noted that, if it granted the application, Mercer could proceed without prepaying fees.
No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that, if Mercer complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he did not comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal-fee ruling
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. The court therefore denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order did not address the underlying claims against Westchester Medical Center.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.