Ewers v. Montefiore Medical Center
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-01025
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Ewers v. Montefiore Medical Center, Judge Swain ordered pro se plaintiff Narline Ewers to pay $402 or submit an IFP application within 30 days.
Narline Ewers is required to pay the specified fees or submit a signed IFP application within 30 days for the action to continue processing; the court also denied IFP status for an appeal from this order.
What happened
In Ewers v. Montefiore Medical Center, Narline Ewers filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims.
The court ordered Ewers, within 30 days, to either pay $402 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. No summons will issue at this time. If she does not comply within the deadline, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order does not decide the merits of Ewers’s claims.
The detailed version
- Ewers v. Montefiore Medical Center · No. 1:23-cv-01025
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 8, 2023
Background
Narline Ewers brought this action pro se, meaning without a lawyer. She submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without an application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), which would request permission to proceed without prepaying court fees. The opinion does not state what claims Ewers brought.
Order
The court directed Ewers to take one of two steps within 30 days of the order’s date: pay $402, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee, or submit a signed IFP application. The application was to be labeled with docket number 23-CV-1025. The court stated that, if it grants the application, Ewers may proceed without prepaying fees.
The court ordered that no summons issue at that time. If Ewers complies with the order, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If she does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal-related ruling
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. This order addressed filing-fee requirements and did not decide the merits of the underlying action.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.