Newsom v. American Airlines, Inc.
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-05889
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Newsom v. American Airlines, Judge Swain ordered Deirdre Newsom to pay $402 or apply to proceed without prepaying fees.
Deirdre Newsom must either pay the $402 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying them within 30 days. American Airlines, Inc. is the named defendant, but the order does not address the merits of the claims.
What happened
In Newsom v. American Airlines, Inc., Deirdre Newsom filed the action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them.
The court gave Newsom 30 days to pay $402 or submit a signed application explaining why she cannot prepay the fees. No summons will be issued yet, and the case will be processed if she follows the order; otherwise, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Newsom v. American Airlines, Inc. · No. 1:23-cv-05889
- Laura Swain
- July 18, 2023
Background
Deirdre Newsom brought this civil action without a lawyer. She submitted the complaint without paying the required filing fees and without an application to proceed without prepaying those fees.
Court’s Order
The court explained that a plaintiff must either pay $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915.
The court directed Newsom, within 30 days of the order, to pay the $402 or submit the attached application. If the court grants the application, Newsom may proceed without prepaying the fees. The court ordered that no summons issue at that time. If Newsom complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures; if she does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. The court therefore denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.