Maxwell v. Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents for the Southern Court of the…
Maxwell v. Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents for the Southern Court of the State of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-10604
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Maxwell v. Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents, Judge Swain ordered payment of fees or an application to proceed without prepayment.
The order affects Alvin Emile Maxwell, who must either pay $402 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days of January 6, 2023. The action will be dismissed if he does not comply.
What happened
In Maxwell v. Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents for the Southern Court of the State of New York, Alvin Emile Maxwell filed a civil lawsuit without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepayment because of inability to pay.
The court gave Maxwell 30 days from January 6, 2023, to pay $402 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment. No summons would be issued yet, and the case would be processed if Maxwell complied. If he did not comply on time, the action would be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not address the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Maxwell v. Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents for the Southern Court of the… · No. 1:22-cv-10604
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 6, 2023
Background
Alvin Emile Maxwell brought the action without a lawyer. He submitted a complaint but did not pay the required filing and administrative fees and did not submit an application to proceed without prepayment of fees.
Court’s Order
The court explained that a plaintiff must either pay $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed in forma pauperis, meaning without prepaying the fees. The court directed Maxwell, within 30 days of the order’s date, to do one of those two things. If he submitted the application, it had to identify docket number 22-CV-10604 (LTS).
The court stated that, if it granted the application, Maxwell could proceed without prepaying fees. No summons would issue at that time. If Maxwell complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case under its procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal Certification
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 appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the merits of Maxwell’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.