Burgfried v. Hartung
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-07493
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Burgfried v. Hartung, Judge Swain ordered Christine Burgfried to pay fees or apply to proceed without prepayment, warning of dismissal for noncompliance.
Christine Burgfried was required to pay the $402 fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days. The summons was not issued at that time, and the action could be dismissed for noncompliance. The opinion does not describe any ruling on Christian Hartung’s position or the underlying claims.
What happened
In Burgfried v. Hartung, Christine Burgfried filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them. She was representing herself.
The court ordered Burgfried, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in filing and administrative fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment. No summons would issue at that time, and the court warned that the action would be dismissed if she did not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Burgfried v. Hartung · No. 1:23-cv-07493
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 4, 2024
Background
Christine Burgfried brought this civil action without a lawyer. She submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without an application to proceed without prepaying fees.
Order
The court explained that starting a civil action in the Southern District of New York requires either payment of $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submission of a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. The court ordered Burgfried to take one of those steps within 30 days of the order. If she submitted the application and the court granted it, she could proceed without prepaying the fees.
The court directed that no summons issue at that time. It stated that, if Burgfried complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures, but if she failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. The court also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.