Campbell v. Warden
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-07744
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Campbell v. Warden, Judge Swain ordered Campbell’s $5 check returned and denied fee-free status for any appeal.
George Campbell, whose $5 filing-fee check was ordered returned and whose request to appeal without paying fees was denied; the Clerk of Court was directed to return the check. The opinion states that the habeas case had been transferred to the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
What happened
George Campbell filed a petition without a lawyer and did not initially pay the filing fee or request permission to proceed without paying it. The case was transferred to the Middle District of Pennsylvania on September 15, 2022.
After the transfer, Campbell sent the court a check for the $5 filing fee. Because the case was closed in the Southern District of New York, that court directed its clerk to return the check.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Campbell permission to appeal without paying the required fees. The order did not decide the petition’s underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Campbell v. Warden · No. 1:22-cv-07744
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 13, 2023
Background
George Campbell filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus without a lawyer. He did not pay the filing fee or submit an application to proceed without paying it. On September 15, 2022, the case was transferred to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
After the transfer, Campbell sent the court a check for the $5 filing fee. The Southern District of New York stated that the case was closed there and directed the Clerk of Court to return the check. The order instructed Campbell to contact the Middle District of Pennsylvania with questions about paying the filing fee for his habeas case.
Rulings
The court ordered the Clerk of Court to return Campbell’s $5 check. It also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the appellate filing fees. The order did not address the merits of Campbell’s habeas petition.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.