Burns v. Warden, Valhalla
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-06440
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Burns v. Warden, Valhalla, Judge Swain ordered George Burns to pay the filing fee or submit a fee-waiver application.
George Burns must either pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days. The case will be dismissed if he does not comply; the order also denies fee-waiver status for an appeal.
What happened
George Burns filed a petition asking for habeas relief, but he did not pay the required $5 filing fee or submit an application to proceed without paying court fees. The order does not address whether his petition has merit.
The court gave Burns 30 days from July 26, 2023, to pay the fee or submit a signed fee-waiver application. No summons will be issued yet, and the case will be processed if he complies. The court stated that the action will be dismissed if he does not comply within the allowed time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Burns v. Warden, Valhalla · No. 1:23-cv-06440
- Laura Swain
- July 26, 2023
Background George Burns, representing himself, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, a request for court review of the legality of his custody or detention. He submitted the petition without paying the $5 filing fee and without an application to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order The court directed Burns, 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 identify docket number 23-CV-6440 (LTS). If the court grants the application, Burns may proceed without paying the fee in advance.
The court stated that no summons would issue at that time. If Burns complies with the order, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Ruling Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. The order did not decide the merits of Burns’s habeas petition.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.