Richard v. Ministry of Education Jamica W.I. Olla
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-07990
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Richard v. Ministry of Education Jamaica W.I. Olla, Judge Swain dismissed Vancara Richard’s complaint without prejudice after Richard neither paid filing fees nor submitted an IFP application.
Vancara Richard’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal and directed the clerk to enter judgment.
What happened
In Vancara Richard v. Ministry of Education Jamaica W.I. Olla, the court had ordered Richard to either submit an application to proceed without paying filing fees or pay the required $402 in fees. The order warned that failing to do so would result in dismissal.
Richard did neither. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling based on this order.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal would not be taken in good faith, denied fee-free status for any appeal, and directed the clerk to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Richard v. Ministry of Education Jamica W.I. Olla · No. 1:23-cv-07990
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 16, 2023
Background
The court had previously ordered Plaintiff Vancara Richard, within thirty days, either to submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee—called an in forma pauperis, or IFP, application—or to pay the $402 required to file a civil action. That order stated that failure to comply would result in dismissal of the complaint.
Ruling
The court found that Richard had not submitted an IFP application or paid the filing fee. It dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith, denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal, and directed the clerk to enter judgment.
Effect
The opinion does not address the underlying claims against the defendants. The dismissal was based on the failure to submit the required IFP application or pay the filing fee, and it was expressly without prejudice.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.