Evans v. Santa
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-00626
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Evans v. Santa, Judge Swain dismissed Evans’s complaint after he failed to file the required amended complaint and denied appeal fee-free status.
James Earl Evans’s complaint was dismissed, and his fee-free status was denied for purposes of an appeal. Case Manager Lyndsay Santa and Case Worker Brooke Livingston were the defendants in the dismissed case.
What happened
In Evans v. Santa, the court had previously ordered James Earl Evans to file an amended complaint within 60 days and warned that failing to do so would result in dismissal. Evans did not file one.
The court dismissed the complaint under the statute governing complaints filed without paying the filing fee. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims or decide whether they had merit.
Judge Swain directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment and certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The court therefore denied Evans’s fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
The detailed version
- Evans v. Santa · No. 1:23-cv-00626
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 1, 2023
Background
James Earl Evans sued Case Manager Lyndsay Santa and Case Worker Brooke Livingston. The court had previously ordered Evans to file an amended complaint within 60 days and expressly stated that failure to comply would result in dismissal. Evans did not file an amended complaint.
Ruling
The court dismissed the complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii). Section 1915 governs complaints filed without paying the filing fee, and the opinion identifies Evans’s complaint as having been filed under that provision. The opinion does not explain the underlying claims or reach their merits.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied Evans’s fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The Clerk of Court was directed to enter judgment.
Disposition
The complaint was dismissed. Appeal fee-free status was denied for purposes of an appeal. The order was signed by Judge Laura Taylor Swain on July 28, 2023. The supplied docket metadata lists August 1, 2023, as the filing date.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.