Kaambo v. The Office of the United Nations Secretary-General
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-09447
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Kaambo v. the Office of the United States Secretary-General, Judge Swain dismissed the complaint for lack of jurisdiction and denied appeal-related fee waiver status.
Jeremia Kuhepakaambo’s complaint was dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, and he was denied fee-waiver status for an appeal.
What happened
In Kaambo v. the Office of the United States Secretary-General, Jeremia Kuhepakaambo filed a complaint without paying the filing fee under a federal law allowing qualifying litigants to proceed without that fee.
The court dismissed the complaint because it lacked authority to hear the subject matter. The judgment refers to the court’s February 21, 2023 order for the reasons, but that order is not included here. The judgment therefore does not explain why jurisdiction was lacking.
Judge Laura Swain’s judgment also stated that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal. The judgment was entered on February 24, 2023.
The detailed version
- Kaambo v. The Office of the United Nations Secretary-General · No. 1:22-cv-09447
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 24, 2023
Disposition
The court dismissed Jeremia Kuhepakaambo’s complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(h)(3). Subject-matter jurisdiction is the court’s legal power to hear the type of dispute presented. The judgment states that the reasons for the dismissal were provided in a February 21, 2023 order, which is not included in the supplied opinion text.
Filing-fee status and appeal
The complaint had been filed under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1), which permits a qualifying litigant to proceed without paying the usual filing fee. 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 fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal.
Result
The complaint was dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, and appeal-related fee-waiver status was denied. The supplied judgment does not state the specific jurisdictional defect or otherwise address the merits of the complaint.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.