Samuels v. New York Department of Labor
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-08004
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Samuels v. New York Department of Labor: Judge Swain ordered payment or a complete IFP application within 30 days, or the action would be dismissed without prejudice.
Justin Samuels, whose action could be dismissed without prejudice if he did not pay the required fees or submit a complete amended IFP application within 30 days.
What happened
In Samuels v. New York Department of Labor, et al., Justin Samuels brought the action without a lawyer and submitted an application to proceed without paying fees in advance.
The application used a state-court form and did not answer every question, so the court lacked information about all of Samuels's assets and income. The court gave him 30 days to pay $402 in fees or submit the attached, fully completed federal application.
The court directed that no summons issue yet and stated that the action would be dismissed without prejudice if Samuels did not comply. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Samuels v. New York Department of Labor · No. 1:23-cv-08004
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 11, 2023
Background
Justin Samuels filed this action without a lawyer. A plaintiff starting a civil action in the Southern District of New York must either pay $402 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying those fees, commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP).
Samuels submitted an IFP application with his complaint, but it was captioned for state court, used a state-court form, and did not answer all the questions. As a result, the court said it lacked information about all of his assets and income.
Order
The court ordered Samuels, within 30 days of September 11, 2023, to do one of two things: pay the $402 in fees or submit the attached amended IFP application. The amended application had to be fully completed and labeled with docket number 23-CV-8004 (LTS). If the court granted the amended application, Samuels would be allowed to proceed without prepaying the fees.
The court ordered that no summons issue at that time. It stated that if Samuels failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed without prejudice. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.