Elnenaey v. Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC
- Edgardo Ramos
- 1:23-cv-06970
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Elnenaey v. Fidelity Brokerage, Judge Swain ordered payment or a complete fee-waiver application, warning the case would otherwise be dismissed without prejudice.
Elsayed A. Elnenaey, who had to pay the fees or submit a complete fee-waiver application identifying all worldwide assets to avoid dismissal without prejudice.
What happened
Elsayed A. Elnenaey sued Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC and others without a lawyer. The court had not yet authorized the case to proceed because Elnenaey’s fee-waiver application was incomplete.
The application did not answer questions about gifts, inheritances, or other income sources. The complaint also referred to assets, including real property in Egypt, that were not listed in the application. The court ordered Elnenaey, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or submit a fully completed application listing all worldwide assets.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that no summons issue yet and stated that failure to comply would result in dismissal without prejudice. She also denied fee-waiver status for an appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Elnenaey v. Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC · No. 1:23-cv-06970
- Edgardo Ramos
- Aug. 23, 2023
Background
Elsayed A. Elnenaey filed this action without a lawyer and submitted an application asking to proceed without paying the filing fees in advance. The court explained that a civil action requires payment of $402: a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee, unless the court authorizes proceeding without prepayment under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915.
The Court’s Concerns
The court found that Elnenaey had not answered every question in the fee-waiver application. Specifically, he did not answer questions about gifts or inheritances and money from other sources. The complaint also referred to assets that were not listed in the application, including real property in Egypt. The court noted that a document apparently awarding Elnenaey an undivided interest in various assets in Egypt had been submitted in a prior related proceeding. The opinion states that those assets appeared to include real property, checking and savings accounts, and a pension.
Order
The court ordered Elnenaey, within 30 days of August 23, 2023, to do one of two things: pay the $402 in fees or submit an amended application that was fully completed and identified all of his worldwide assets. The amended application had to include docket number 23-CV-6970 (LTS). The court stated that if Elnenaey did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed without prejudice. No summons was to issue at that time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims against Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC or the other defendants.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.