Motley v. Jakyra KayTriece Motley Estate

Background

The court had previously ordered Plaintiff Jasper Cortez Motley, Sr., within 30 days, to either submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fees or pay the $405 required to file a civil action. The order warned that failing to do so would result in dismissal of the complaint.

Motley did neither. Instead, he filed a notice of an interlocutory appeal on January 25, 2024. The opinion states that the notice was filed more than 10 days after the December 26, 2023 order and that the Court of Appeals had not certified the appeal as an interlocutory appeal.

Court’s Analysis

The court held that it retained authority to dismiss the action despite the pending appeal. It explained that the rule generally transferring control of appealed matters from the district court to the appeals court does not apply to frivolous, untimely, or otherwise defective appeals. Because Motley was attempting to appeal a non-final order directing him to satisfy the filing-fee or fee-waiver requirements, the court found that his appeal was frivolous and plainly defective.

Ruling

Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Motley had not submitted the required fee-waiver application or paid the filing fees. The court directed the Clerk of Court to enter a judgment dismissing the action. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.