Lema-Yaucan v. Melecio
- Nelson Roman
- 7:23-cv-03860
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Lema-Yaucan v. Melecio, Judge Swain ordered payment of the filing fee or an application to proceed without prepaying it.
Holger Lema-Yaucan must either pay the $5 filing fee or submit the required application within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action. Philip Melecio was not required to respond at this stage.
What happened
In Lema-Yaucan v. Melecio, Holger Lema-Yaucan filed a petition under the federal habeas process without paying the $5 filing fee or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying fees.
The court gave him 30 days to pay the fee or submit a signed application. No response from Philip Melecio was required at this stage. The court said the case would be processed if Lema-Yaucan complied and would be dismissed if he did not.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Lema-Yaucan v. Melecio · No. 7:23-cv-03860
- Nelson Roman
- May 10, 2023
Background
Holger Lema-Yaucan, proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, a court procedure for seeking relief under federal law. He submitted the petition without the required $5 filing fee and without an application to proceed without prepaying court fees.
Court’s order
The court directed Lema-Yaucan, 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. The application had to include docket number 23-CV-3860 (LTS). The court explained that, if it granted the application, Lema-Yaucan could proceed without paying fees in advance.
The court stated that no answer from Melecio was required at that time. If Lema-Yaucan complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case under its procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal-fee ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.