Ong v. Honor Shelter
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-02124
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Ong v. Honor Shelter, Chief Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice after Ong failed to submit a required signature page and denied fee-free appeal status.
Bienvenido Ong’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice, and he was denied permission to appeal without paying court fees. Honor Shelter was the named defendant.
What happened
In Ong v. Honor Shelter, the court had ordered Bienvenido Ong to submit a signed signature page for his complaint within 30 days. The order warned that failing to do so would result in dismissal.
The clerk’s office mailed the order to two addresses, but both mailings were returned as undeliverable. Ong did not submit the signature page or otherwise contact the court. The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice and directed the clerk to enter judgment.
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Ong permission to appeal without paying court fees.
The detailed version
- Ong v. Honor Shelter · No. 1:25-cv-02124
- Laura Swain
- July 28, 2025
Background
The court had previously ordered Bienvenido Ong to submit a signed signature page for his complaint within 30 days. The order stated that failing to comply would result in dismissal. The clerk’s office mailed the order to Ong at two different addresses, but both mailings were returned as undeliverable.
Court’s action
Ong did not file the required signature page and did not otherwise communicate with the court. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice. The court also directed the clerk to enter judgment.
Appeal status
The court certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied Ong permission to appeal without paying the required court fees.
Classification basis
This is a procedural order because the court dismissed the complaint based on Ong’s failure to comply with an order and did not decide the underlying legal claims.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.