John Doe v. NYC Dept. of Corrections
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-01139
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In John Doe v. NYC Dept. of Corrections, Chief Judge Swain ordered the petitioner to pay $5 or submit an IFP application within 30 days.
John Doe must either pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed IFP application within 30 days; otherwise, the action will be dismissed. NYC Dept. of Corrections was not required to answer at this time.
What happened
John Doe v. NYC Dept. of Corrections concerns a habeas petition filed without the required filing fee or an application to proceed without paying it upfront.
The court gave John Doe 30 days to pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. The court did not require the corrections department to respond at this time.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that the case would be dismissed if John Doe did not comply. She also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- John Doe v. NYC Dept. of Corrections · No. 1:24-cv-01139
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 22, 2024
Background
John Doe, who was proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The petition was submitted without the required $5 filing fee and without an application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP), which is permission to proceed without prepaying court fees.
Order
The court ordered John Doe, within 30 days, to either pay the $5 filing fee or complete and submit the attached, signed IFP application. If the court granted the IFP application, John Doe would be allowed to proceed without prepaying fees. The court instructed that any IFP application should include docket number 24-CV-1139 (LTS).
The court stated that no response from NYC Dept. of Corrections was required at that time. If John Doe failed to comply within the 30-day period, the action would be dismissed. A footnote states that John Doe had not provided enough identifying information, such as a prisoner identification number, for the court to mail him a copy of the order, but the court would keep the matter open for 30 days to allow compliance.
Appeal and Disposition
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. The order addressed filing-fee and IFP requirements; it did not decide the substance of the habeas petition.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.