Johnson v. McClain
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-08685
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Johnson v. McClain, Judge Swain denied as moot Johnson’s requests for more appeal time and fee-free appeal status.
Jinja J. Kyng Pariah Johnson’s requests for additional appeal time and permission to appeal without paying fees.
What happened
In Johnson v. McClain, the court had previously dismissed Jinja J. Kyng Pariah Johnson’s federal claims for not stating a claim and declined to hear her state-law claims. The court gave her 30 days to file an amended complaint, but she did not do so, and judgment was entered.
Johnson later filed a notice of appeal, asked for more time to appeal, and asked to appeal without paying the filing fee. The court found that her notice of appeal was filed within the required 30-day period, so more time was unnecessary. It also noted that the earlier dismissal had already denied fee-free status for an appeal, while allowing her to apply to the Court of Appeals.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied both motions as moot. The court also certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Johnson v. McClain · No. 1:22-cv-08685
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 16, 2023
Background
In an earlier order, the Court dismissed Johnson’s federal claims for failure to state a claim under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) and declined to exercise jurisdiction over her supplemental state-law claims. The Court gave Johnson 30 days to file an amended complaint. After she did not file one within that period, the Clerk of Court entered judgment on July 28, 2023.
On August 11, 2023, Johnson filed a notice of appeal, a motion for an extension of time to file the notice of appeal, and a motion for permission to proceed without paying the required fees on appeal.
Court’s Analysis
The court applied Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(1)(A), which requires a notice of appeal in a civil case to be filed within 30 days after judgment. Because Johnson filed her notice within 30 days after the July 28 judgment, the court found that the notice was timely. As a result, an extension of time was unnecessary.
The court also found that Johnson’s request to proceed without paying fees on appeal was moot because its earlier dismissal order had already denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The court stated that Johnson could file an application with the Court of Appeals to proceed without paying fees.
Disposition
The court denied as moot Johnson’s motion for an extension of time to file a notice of appeal and denied as moot her motion for permission to proceed without paying fees on appeal. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3), the court certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and therefore denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal from this order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.