Leonard v. United States
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-08571
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Leonard v. United States, Judge Swain denied Laverne M. Leonard permission to appeal without paying fees, finding the appeal would not be taken in good faith.
Laverne M. Leonard’s attempt to appeal without paying court fees was affected; the order denied her permission to do so.
What happened
In Leonard v. United States, the court had previously dismissed Laverne M. Leonard’s action as frivolous under a federal statute governing cases filed without paying court fees. The earlier order also said an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
Leonard filed a notice of appeal and then applied to proceed without paying fees on appeal. The court denied that request, as stated in its earlier dismissal order.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees for that reason.
The detailed version
- Leonard v. United States · No. 1:23-cv-08571
- Laura Swain
- May 6, 2024
Background
The court had dismissed Leonard’s action on November 27, 2023, as frivolous under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i). The earlier order stated that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Leonard permission to proceed in forma pauperis (without paying the usual court fees) for an appeal.
Leonard filed a notice of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. On January 6, 2024, she applied to proceed without paying fees on appeal.
Ruling
The court denied Leonard’s application to proceed without paying fees on appeal, relying on its November 27, 2023 dismissal order. It also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the May 6, 2024 order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for that appeal.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.