Button v. Breshears
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-03757
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Button v. Breshears, Judge Swain ordered plaintiffs to pay fees or submit applications to proceed without upfront payment within 30 days.
The plaintiffs are affected because they must either pay $405 or submit individual applications to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days. If they do not comply, the action will be dismissed without prejudice to refiling.
What happened
In Button v. Breshears, plaintiffs submitted a civil action to the Southern District of New York by email. The court said a civil case may proceed only after the plaintiffs pay the required fees or request permission to proceed without paying them upfront.
The court ordered each plaintiff, within 30 days, either to pay $405 or submit a completed and signed application to proceed without upfront payment. Until payment or proper applications are received, the case will not move forward, and no summons or answer will be required.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain stated that failure to comply would result in dismissal without prejudice to refiling. She also denied permission to proceed without paying fees for any appeal from the order.
The detailed version
- Button v. Breshears · No. 1:24-cv-03757
- Laura Swain
- May 17, 2024
Background
The plaintiffs submitted this civil action to the court by email. The court explained that a plaintiff must either pay the required fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying them. The total amount identified in the order was $405, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee.
Order
The court gave each plaintiff 30 days from the date of the order to do one of two things: pay the $405 in fees, or complete, sign, and submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The order described acceptable payment methods and stated that payment must include the docket number.
No further action would be taken, and no summons would issue or answer would be required, until the fees were paid or completed and signed applications were received. If the applications were granted, the plaintiffs could proceed without prepaying fees. If the plaintiffs failed to comply, or requested more time to comply, the action would be dismissed without prejudice to refiling.
Ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the plaintiffs to pay the required fees or submit the required applications within 30 days. The order also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.