Samuels v. Small Business Administration
- John Cronan
- 1:23-cv-08000
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Samuels v. Small Business Administration, Judge Swain ordered the pro se plaintiff to pay fees or submit a complete fee-waiver application within 30 days.
Justin Samuels must either pay the $402 in fees or submit an amended application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days. No summons issued at that time, and the action will be dismissed if he does not comply.
What happened
In Samuels v. Small Business Administration, Justin Samuels filed a civil action without a lawyer and submitted documents asking to proceed without paying court fees. The documents were prepared for a New York state court rather than this federal court.
The court found that the application did not provide enough information about Samuels’s income, expenses, property, dependents, or debts to decide whether he could pay the fees. The court therefore ordered him, within 30 days, either to pay $402 or submit an amended application with the missing information.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ordered that no summons issue at that time. If Samuels does not comply within the deadline, the action will be dismissed. The court denied fee-waiver status for an appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Samuels v. Small Business Administration · No. 1:23-cv-08000
- John Cronan
- Sept. 13, 2023
Background
Justin Samuels brought this action pro se, meaning without a lawyer. To begin a civil action in the federal court, he had to pay $402 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying those fees.
Samuels submitted a “Poor Person Order” and an affidavit prepared for the New York Supreme Court, Bronx County. The court treated those documents as his application to proceed without prepaying fees.
Court’s Analysis
The court stated that the application did not provide enough information about Samuels’s income, expenses, property, dependents, or debts. Because of those omissions, the court could not determine whether he had enough money to pay the filing fees.
Ruling
The court directed Samuels to do one of two things within 30 days of the order: pay the $402 in fees or submit an amended application. The amended application must use docket number 23-CV-8000 (LTS) and provide facts showing that he cannot pay the fees.
The court stated that, if it grants the amended application, Samuels may proceed without prepaying the fees. No summons was to issue at that time. If Samuels failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed.
The court 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.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.