Ifeji v. garland
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-00030
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Ifeji v. Garland, Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice after Ifeji neither paid filing fees nor submitted an application to waive them.
Jazzlyn Shabera Ifeji and the other plaintiffs' civil action against Merrick Garland and the other defendants was dismissed without prejudice; the court also denied fee-free appeal status.
What happened
In Ifeji v. Garland, the court ordered the plaintiff to either pay the required filing fees or submit an application to proceed without paying them. The plaintiff did neither.
Instead, the plaintiff filed a notice seeking an interlocutory appeal. The court concluded that the appeal was from a non-final order, had not been certified by the appeals court, and did not prevent the district court from deciding the case.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice. She also denied the plaintiff permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that any appeal from this dismissal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Ifeji v. garland · No. 1:24-cv-00030
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 7, 2024
Background
The court had previously directed the plaintiff, within 30 days, either to submit a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fees or to pay the $405 required to file a civil action. The order stated that failure to comply would result in dismissal.
The plaintiff did not submit the application or pay the fees. Instead, on February 20, 2024, she filed a notice of an interlocutory appeal. The opinion's main text refers to the prior directive as an order dated January 25, 2024. A footnote refers to a December 26, 2023 order directing payment or an application to waive the fees.
Court's Analysis
The court concluded that it retained authority to dismiss the action despite the pending appeal. It reasoned that the notice sought review of a non-final order concerning the requirements for commencing the civil action, and that the appeal had not been certified as an interlocutory appeal by the Court of Appeals. The court characterized the appeal as frivolous and plainly defective and therefore held that it did not remove the district court's authority over the action.
Ruling
The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice because the plaintiff did not submit the required application or pay the filing fees. It directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment dismissing the action. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.