Seals v. Department of State - Division of Licensing
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-08275
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Seals v. Department of State–Division of Licensing, Chief Judge Swain dismissed the case without prejudice because Seals did not obtain required filing permission.
Tina R. Seals, who filed the action without a lawyer, and the Department of State – Division of Licensing. The case was dismissed without prejudice, and fee-free status was denied for any appeal.
What happened
In Seals v. Department of State–Division of Licensing, Tina R. Seals filed a new case without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying the filing fee. A 2014 order had required her to get the court’s permission before filing any new case without paying that fee.
Seals had not asked for that permission before filing this case. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims against the Department of State – Division of Licensing.
The court dismissed the case without prejudice because Seals did not follow the 2014 order. Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied fee-free status for any appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith, and directed the clerk to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Seals v. Department of State - Division of Licensing · No. 1:23-cv-08275
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 20, 2023
Background
Tina R. Seals filed this new case without a lawyer and requested permission to proceed without paying the filing fee. The opinion states that, on October 1, 2014, Judge Loretta A. Preska had barred Seals from filing any new civil action in the Southern District of New York without paying the fee unless she first obtained the court’s permission to file.
Seals did not request that permission before filing this action. The opinion does not explain the substance of Seals’s claims against the Department of State – Division of Licensing.
Ruling
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1651, the court dismissed the action without prejudice because Seals failed to comply with the October 1, 2014 order. “Without prejudice” means the dismissal itself does not bar a later filing, although the opinion does not address what steps would be required for any future filing.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The clerk was directed to enter judgment. The order was signed by Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.