Okafor v. HEI HOTELS
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05038
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Okafor v. HEI HOTELS, Judge Swain dismissed the action without prejudice after Okafor neither paid filing fees nor requested a fee waiver.
Chisom Okafor's action was dismissed without prejudice after the required filing fee or fee-waiver application was not submitted. HEI HOTELS was the defendant. Any appeal would not qualify for fee-waiver status under the order.
What happened
In Okafor v. HEI HOTELS, the court gave Chisom Okafor 30 days to either pay the required $405 filing fee or submit a request to proceed without paying it.
Okafor did neither. The court therefore dismissed the action without prejudice, meaning the dismissal did not bar refiling, and directed the clerk to enter judgment.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for the appeal.
The detailed version
- Okafor v. HEI HOTELS · No. 1:25-cv-05038
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 21, 2025
Background
On June 18, 2025, the Court ordered Chisom Okafor to submit, within 30 days, a completed application to proceed without paying the filing fee or to pay the $405 required to file a civil action. The order warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal.
Okafor did not submit the application or pay the filing fee.
Ruling
The Court dismissed the action without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. The order directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment dismissing the action for that reason.
The Court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to proceed without paying fees for an appeal.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.