Onatolu v. Martin Luther King Statue
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:21-cv-02936
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Onatolu v. Martin Luther King Statue, Judge McMahon dismissed the case without prejudice and denied appellate filing-fee relief because plaintiff lacked required permission.
Adekunle A. Onatolu's action was dismissed without prejudice, and he was denied permission to proceed without paying the filing fee for an appeal.
What happened
In Onatolu v. Martin Luther King Statue, Adekunle A. Onatolu filed the case without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying the filing fee. A prior court order required him to obtain permission before filing any new case without paying that fee.
Onatolu had not requested that permission before filing this action. The court therefore dismissed the action without prejudice for violating the earlier order.
Judge Colleen McMahon also ruled that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying the filing fee for an appeal. The court did not address documents Onatolu submitted about appealing because no order in this case existed when he filed them.
The detailed version
- Onatolu v. Martin Luther King Statue · No. 1:21-cv-02936
- Colleen McMahon
- Apr. 6, 2021
Background
Adekunle A. Onatolu filed this action without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying the filing fee. The opinion states that, on July 9, 2015, the court had barred him from filing any new action without paying the filing fee unless he first obtained the court's permission. Onatolu did not seek that permission before filing this case.
Ruling
The court dismissed the action without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. § 1651 because Onatolu failed to comply with the July 9, 2015 order. “Without prejudice” means the dismissal itself does not bar refiling, although the earlier permission requirement remains part of the court's stated reason for dismissal.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying the filing fee for an appeal. The opinion notes that Onatolu attached a notice of appeal, a request for more time to file an appeal, and a request to proceed without paying the appellate filing fee. Because no order in this action existed when he filed the complaint, the court did not address those documents.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.