Court, Explained
U.S. Federal District Courts
←Back to docket
S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled Feb. 24, 2023

Scott v. Carter

Judge
Laura Swain
Docket
1:22-cv-10705
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
1
HabeasCivil Procedure
In one sentence

In Scott v. Carter, Judge Swain dismissed Willie Scott’s habeas petition without prejudice because he neither paid the fee nor requested to proceed without paying.

Who this affects

Willie Scott’s habeas petition was dismissed without prejudice; Warden Mrs. Carter was the named respondent.

What happened

In Scott v. Carter, the court had ordered Willie Scott to either pay the $5 filing fee for his habeas petition or submit a request to proceed without paying because of inability to pay.

Scott did neither within the required thirty days. The court therefore dismissed the petition without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling, and directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.

Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Scott permission to proceed without paying the appeal fee.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
Scott v. Carter · No. 1:22-cv-10705
Judge
Laura Swain
Date
Feb. 24, 2023

Background

Willie Scott filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus against Warden Mrs. Carter. On December 22, 2022, the court ordered Scott, within thirty days, either to pay the required $5 filing fee or submit an application to proceed without prepaying the fee because of inability to pay. The order warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal.

Court’s ruling

Scott did not submit the application or pay the filing fee. The court dismissed the petition without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The court also directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.

Appeal-fee 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 permission to proceed without prepaying the fee for an appeal. Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain did not decide the substance of Scott’s habeas claims.

The authoritative version

Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
Summary written with AI assistance. See how summaries are made. Spot something wrong? Tell us.