John Doe v. Neilson
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-00714
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In John Doe v. Neilson, Chief Judge Swain ordered payment or fee-waiver paperwork before the case could proceed.
John Doe, an incarcerated plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, must either pay the required fees or submit the required fee-waiver and prisoner-authorization forms for the action to proceed. The defendants and other case participants are affected by the temporary limits on access to John Doe’s submissions.
What happened
In John Doe v. Neilson, John Doe filed a lawsuit without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to proceed without prepaying them. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims.
The court gave John Doe 30 days to pay $402 or submit a completed application and authorization allowing filing-fee payments to be deducted from his account. No summons will issue yet, and the court will dismiss the action if he does not comply. The court also temporarily kept him listed as “John Doe” and limited access to his submissions while his request to proceed anonymously remains undecided.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied fee-free status for any appeal from this order, finding that such an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- John Doe v. Neilson · No. 1:23-cv-00714
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 2, 2023
Background
John Doe, who the opinion says is incarcerated at Fishkill Correctional Facility, filed this action without a lawyer. He submitted neither the required filing fees nor a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees and the authorization required from a prisoner seeking that status. The opinion does not describe the lawsuit’s underlying claims.
John Doe also submitted a letter asking to proceed anonymously. The court directed the Clerk to list him as “John Doe” on the docket and to limit access to his submissions to case participants. The court said it would consider the anonymity request after he either paid the fees or submitted the required forms.
Order
The court ordered John Doe, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay $402 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee, or submit a completed application to proceed in forma pauperis—without prepaying the fees—and a prisoner authorization. The authorization would permit the court to collect the $350 filing fee in installments from his account and would require certified copies of account statements for the previous six months. The forms had to use his real name and identify docket number 23-CV-0714 (LTS).
No summons would issue at that time. If John Doe complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case under its procedures. If he did not comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
Effect
This order addressed filing fees, fee-waiver paperwork, prisoner payment authorization, and the timing of the anonymity request. It did not decide the merits of the underlying lawsuit. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order as Chief United States District Judge.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.