Ruiz v. United States
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-07421
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Ruiz v. United States, Judge Swain granted Ruiz more time to appeal but denied fee-free status for that appeal.
Angel Ruiz received additional time to file a notice of appeal, but was denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees. The United States was the defendant.
What happened
In Ruiz v. United States, the court had dismissed Angel Ruiz’s complaint and allowed him 30 days to file an amended complaint. Ruiz later filed an appeal and asked for more time to file the notice of appeal.
The court said a civil appeal against the United States generally must be filed within 60 days. It found that Ruiz asked for an extension within the allowed period and showed good cause for the late filing.
Judge Swain granted Ruiz’s request for more time to file the notice of appeal. She also denied Ruiz permission to appeal without paying filing fees and terminated all other pending matters in the case.
The detailed version
- Ruiz v. United States · No. 1:23-cv-07421
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 9, 2024
Background
In an earlier order dated October 10, 2023, the Court dismissed Angel Ruiz’s complaint but gave him 30 days to file an amended complaint. On December 12, 2023, Ruiz filed an appeal and a motion for an extension of time to file the notice of appeal.
Legal standard
Under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(1)(B)(i), a notice of appeal in a civil case against the United States generally must be filed within 60 days after the order being appealed is entered. Rule 4(a)(5)(A) allows the district court to extend that deadline when the motion is filed within 30 days after the deadline expires and the party shows good cause or excusable neglect.
Ruling
The Court found that Ruiz filed his motion within 30 days after the appeal deadline expired and showed good cause for the late filing. It therefore granted Ruiz’s motion for an extension of time to file a notice of appeal.
The Court stated that all other pending matters in the case were terminated. It 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 Ruiz permission to proceed without paying filing fees for the appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.