Cohen v. Jamison
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-01304
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Cohen v. Jamison, Judge Swain ordered Cohen to pay the filing fee or submit an application to proceed without prepayment.
Jeffrey Cohen, who filed the petition without a lawyer or the required filing fee or fee-waiver application.
What happened
In Cohen v. Jamison, Jeffrey Cohen filed a petition asking for habeas relief without paying the $5 filing fee or submitting an application to proceed without prepayment of fees. He said he would send the fee after receiving a case number, but the court had not received it.
The court gave Cohen 30 days to pay the fee or submit a signed application. No response from the Warden was required at that stage. The court said the action would be dismissed if Cohen did not comply within the deadline.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Cohen v. Jamison · No. 1:23-cv-01304
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 1, 2023
Background
Jeffrey Cohen, proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus against Warden J.L. Jamison. The opinion states that a person filing such a petition in this court must either pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. Cohen submitted his petition without either payment or an application. His cover letter stated that he would send the fee after a case number was assigned, but the court had not received the payment as of the order.
Order
The court ordered Cohen, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $5 filing fee or complete and submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees. If the court grants that application, Cohen may proceed without paying the fee in advance. The application was to identify docket number 23-CV-1304 (LTS). The court stated that no answer from the respondent was required at that time and that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Cohen complied. If he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Other ruling
The court certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order as Chief United States District Judge.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.