Background
David Stebbins filed a petition for a writ of mandamus alleging that the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia unduly delayed acting in his underlying copyright infringement action. He sought an order directing the district court to act.
The court’s reasoning
The court reviewed the district court’s docket and found that the district court had recently adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendation and dismissed Stebbins’ action without prejudice, subject to payment of the filing fee within thirty days. Because the district court had recently decided the case, the petition for mandamus was moot. The court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the mandamus action as moot.
What it means going forward
The petitioner’s request for judicial intervention to force the district court to act was denied. The underlying copyright case remains dismissed without prejudice, pending the petitioner’s payment of the required filing fee.
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