Song v. Hoch
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-02739
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Song v. Hoch, Judge Swain ordered Eugenia Song to pay $405 or request a fee waiver within 30 days.
Eugenia Song, whose action must comply with the fee or fee-waiver requirement within 30 days or it will be dismissed; any appeal from the order is not eligible for fee-free status.
What happened
In Song v. Hoch, Eugenia Song filed a civil case without a lawyer but did not pay the required fees or submit an application to proceed without prepaying them.
The court ordered Song, within 30 days, to pay $405 or submit a signed application requesting permission to proceed without prepaying fees. No summons would issue at that time, and the court said the action would be dismissed if she did not comply. The court also noted that Song had another pending action against Emily Hoch and could not pursue two actions against the same defendant based on the same facts.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the order on April 12, 2024. She also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Song v. Hoch · No. 1:24-cv-02739
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 12, 2024
Background
Eugenia Song brought this action without a lawyer. She submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The court stated that proceeding without prepaying fees requires a signed application under 28 U.S.C. § 1915. The court also noted that Song had a pending action against Emily Hoch, identified by docket number 24-CV-2532 (LTS), and stated that Song could not pursue two actions against the same defendant based on the same facts.
Order
The court ordered Song to do one of two things within 30 days of the order: pay $405 in fees, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, or submit the attached signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. The application was to include docket number 24-CV-2739 (LTS). If the court granted the application, Song could proceed without prepaying fees. No summons would issue at that time. The court stated that the action would be dismissed if Song failed to comply within the allowed time.
Appeal ruling and disposition
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order. This was a procedural order about fees and permission to proceed, not a decision on the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.