Okafor v. United States
- Lewis Kaplan
- 1:23-cv-03544
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Okafor v. United States, Judge Kaplan dismissed the complaint without prejudice because Okafor neither paid filing fees nor submitted required forms.
Nzelo Okafor’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice, and permission to appeal without paying fees was denied. The United States of America was the defendant.
What happened
Nzelo Okafor sued the United States of America. The court had ordered Okafor to submit an application to proceed without paying the filing fee and a required prisoner authorization, or to pay the $402 filing fee.
The order warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal. Okafor did not submit the forms or pay the fee.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan dismissed the complaint without prejudice and directed the clerk to enter judgment. He also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Okafor v. United States · No. 1:23-cv-03544
- Lewis Kaplan
- Oct. 11, 2023
Background
The court had previously ordered Nzelo Okafor, within 30 days, either to submit a completed application to proceed without paying filing fees and a prisoner authorization or to pay the $402 required to file a civil action. The order warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal.
Court’s ruling
Okafor did not submit the required application and authorization and did not pay the filing fee. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1914 and 1915. A dismissal without prejudice does not bar refiling.
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 appeal without paying fees. The clerk was directed to enter judgment. The opinion’s signature-date text is unclear; the date in the metadata above is the supplied filing date.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.