Romulo v. Stone
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-01009
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Romulo v. Stone, Judge Swain ordered the petitioner to pay the filing fee or submit an application to proceed without prepaying it.
Sevillano Quinonez Romulo, the petitioner proceeding without a lawyer, must either pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees; failure to comply will result in dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Romulo v. Stone, Sevillano Quinonez Romulo filed a petition asking for habeas relief without paying the required $5 filing fee or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The petition was transferred from the Southern District of Georgia to the Southern District of New York.
The court gave Romulo 30 days to pay the fee or submit a signed application requesting permission to proceed without prepaying it. The court said no response from Stacey N. Stone was required at this stage.
The order directs payment of the fee or submission of the application, and states that the case will be dismissed if Romulo does not comply. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Romulo v. Stone · No. 1:23-cv-01009
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 7, 2023
Background
Sevillano Quinonez Romulo, proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, meaning a request for court relief from allegedly unlawful custody or detention. The petition was initially submitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia and was transferred to the Southern District of New York by order dated January 25, 2023.
Court’s Order
The court explained that a person filing a habeas petition must either pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application to proceed in forma pauperis, which means proceeding without prepaying court fees. Romulo had submitted neither. The court ordered him, within 30 days of the order, to pay the fee or complete and submit the attached application, identifying the case docket number if he submitted the application.
No answer from Stacey N. Stone, identified as the warden, was required at that time. If Romulo complied, the case would proceed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.