Ezekwo v. Specialized Loan Servicing
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-01141
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Ezekwo v. Specialized Loan Servicing, Judge Swain ordered Ezekwo to pay fees or submit an application to proceed without prepayment.
Ifeoma Ezekwo must either pay the required $402 or submit a signed application within 30 days. The case will not proceed to summons issuance unless she complies, and the action will be dismissed if she does not comply within the allowed time.
What happened
In Ezekwo v. Specialized Loan Servicing, Ifeoma Ezekwo filed the action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepayment of fees. The order does not address the underlying claims.
The court gave Ezekwo 30 days to pay $402 or submit a signed application. No summons would issue at that time, and the case would be processed if she complied; otherwise, the action would be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Ezekwo v. Specialized Loan Servicing · No. 1:23-cv-01141
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 13, 2023
Background
Ifeoma Ezekwo brought the action without a lawyer. She submitted her complaint without paying the required fees and without an application to proceed without prepayment of fees. The court stated that filing a civil action required either payment of $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submission of a signed application requesting permission to proceed without prepayment under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915.
Order
The court ordered Ezekwo, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $402 in fees or submit the attached application. If the court grants the application, Ezekwo may proceed without prepaying the fees. The court directed that no summons issue at that time. It stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Ezekwo complied, but that the action would be dismissed if she failed to comply within the permitted time.
Appeal and Scope of Ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order addressed filing-fee and application requirements; it did not decide the merits of Ezekwo’s claims against Specialized Loan Servicing.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.