Onatolu v. Bloomberg
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-07570
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Onatolu v. Bloomberg, Judge McMahon dismissed the case without prejudice because Onatolu filed without required court permission.
Adekunle A. Onatolu, who filed the case without a lawyer and sought to proceed without paying filing fees.
What happened
In Adekunle A. Onatolu v. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Onatolu filed a new case without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying filing fees.
A 2015 court order had barred Onatolu from filing any new fee-free case unless he first obtained the court’s permission. He had not requested that permission before filing this case.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the case without prejudice for violating the 2015 order. She also denied fee-free status for any appeal and certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Onatolu v. Bloomberg · No. 1:20-cv-07570
- Colleen McMahon
- Sept. 16, 2020
Background
Adekunle A. Onatolu filed this case without a lawyer and sought permission to proceed without paying filing fees, known as in forma pauperis (IFP) status. A July 9, 2015 order had barred him from filing any new IFP action unless he first obtained the court’s permission to file. The opinion states that Onatolu had not sought that permission before filing this action.
Ruling
The court dismissed the action without prejudice because Onatolu failed to comply with the July 9, 2015 order. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for an appeal. The court did not address the notice of appeal, motion to extend the time to appeal, or motion to proceed IFP on appeal that Onatolu attached to his complaint, because there was no order in this action to appeal when he filed the complaint.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.