Swint v. Facebook
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-07213
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Swint v. Facebook, Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Swint neither paid filing fees nor submitted an IFP application.
Robert James Swint's complaint was dismissed without prejudice, and he was denied permission to appeal without paying the required fees. Facebook was the named defendant.
What happened
In Swint v. Facebook, the court had ordered Robert James Swint to either pay the $402 filing fee or submit an application to proceed without paying the fee. The deadline was thirty days.
Swint did neither. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling. The court also directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Swint permission to proceed without paying appeal fees.
The detailed version
- Swint v. Facebook · No. 1:23-cv-07213
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 5, 2023
Background
Robert James Swint filed a civil action against Facebook. By an earlier order dated August 16, 2023, the court directed Swint, within thirty days, either to submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee, commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, or to pay the $402 required filing fee.
Ruling
Swint did not submit the application or pay the fee. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The court directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to proceed without paying fees for an appeal.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.