Bey v. State of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-03490
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Bey v. State of New York, Judge Swain ordered Universal Justice Bey to pay fees or submit a complete IFP application.
Universal Justice Bey must either pay the $402 in fees or submit an adequate application to proceed without prepaying them; the action may be dismissed if he does not comply.
What happened
In Bey v. State of New York, Universal Justice Bey sued the State of New York and others without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without paying filing fees.
The court found that Bey’s application did not fully answer how he pays his living expenses and therefore did not establish that he cannot pay the $402 in fees. The court directed him to pay the fees or provide a sufficient application; no summons will issue while he complies with the order.
Judge Swain stated that the action will be dismissed if Bey does not comply within the allowed time. She also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Bey v. State of New York · No. 1:23-cv-03490
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 27, 2023
Background
Universal Justice Bey brought the action without a lawyer. To proceed in the district court, he was required either to pay $402 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying those fees, commonly called an in forma pauperis application.
Bey submitted an application stating that he was unemployed, had no income, and possessed no money or other assets. But he answered “No” and “N/A” to every question about how he pays his expenses and how many dependents he has, and he stated that he had no credit-card debts or other financial obligations. The court found that these answers did not fully explain how he pays his living expenses and did not allow the court to conclude that he lacked sufficient funds to pay the fees.
Order
The court directed Bey to pay the $402 in fees or submit the required information in an adequate fee-waiver application. No summons would issue at that time. The court stated that, if Bey complied with the order, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal-fee ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. The court therefore denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.