Itwaru v. The New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-02020
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Itwaru v. The New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, Judge Swain ordered payment or an IFP application before the case could proceed.
Natasha Itwaru and the pending civil action against The New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene and the other defendants identified in the complaint.
What happened
Itwaru v. The New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene was submitted by email and assigned docket number 24-CV-2020 (LTS). The court explained that a civil-action plaintiff must pay the required fees or request permission to proceed without paying them upfront.
The court gave Natasha Itwaru 30 days to pay $405 or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. Until payment or the application is received, the case will not proceed, and no summons or answer will be required.
If Natasha Itwaru does not comply or request more time, the action will be dismissed without prejudice to refiling. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal this order without prepaying appeal fees.
The detailed version
- Itwaru v. The New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene · No. 1:24-cv-02020
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 20, 2024
What the order concerns
Natasha Itwaru submitted this civil action to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by email. The court had not yet addressed the underlying claims. Instead, this order addressed the filing fee or, alternatively, an application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application.
Order
The court ordered Itwaru, within 30 days, either to pay $405 in fees or to complete, sign, and submit the attached IFP application. The order states that the $405 consists of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, subject to possible updates to the fee schedule.
The court stated that no further action would be taken, no summons would issue, and no answer would be required until the fees were paid or a completed and signed IFP application was received. If the court grants the application, Itwaru may proceed without paying the fees in advance. If proper payment had already been submitted, the case would proceed after the payment was processed.
Consequence of noncompliance
If Itwaru did not comply within the allowed time and did not request an extension, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling. The court also certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order. The order did not decide the merits of Itwaru's claims.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.