Richardson v. Mitchell
- Donovan Frank
- 0:24-cv-02637
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 3
In Victoria L. Richardson v. Jerone Ian Mitchell, Magistrate Judge Foster denied Richardson’s fee-waiver request without prejudice because it was unsigned and incomplete.
Victoria L. Richardson must either pay the filing fee or submit a signed and complete new fee-waiver application by August 5, 2024. The order did not decide the underlying claims against Jerone Ian Mitchell or MCD Holdings Ltd.
What happened
Victoria L. Richardson asked the court in Victoria L. Richardson v. Jerone Ian Mitchell to let her proceed without paying court fees or costs upfront.
The court found that Richardson had not signed her application and had left blank the pages requesting information about her income, employment history, and assets. Without that information, the court could not determine whether she could afford the case’s costs.
Magistrate Judge Dulce J. Foster denied the application without prejudice, meaning Richardson may submit a new application. She must either pay the filing fee or submit a complete new application by August 5, 2024; otherwise, the court may recommend dismissing the case for failure to prosecute.
The detailed version
- Richardson v. Mitchell · No. 0:24-cv-02637
- Donovan Frank
- July 15, 2024
Background
Victoria L. Richardson applied to proceed without paying the case’s filing fees and costs upfront. The application was the only matter addressed in this order.
Why the Court Denied the Application
The court identified two defects. First, Richardson did not sign the application. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) requires an unrepresented party to sign a pleading, motion, or other paper personally, and requires the court to strike an unsigned filing unless the omission is promptly corrected after being brought to the party’s attention.
Second, Richardson left the first three pages of the application completely blank. Those pages requested information about her income, employment history, and assets. The court explained that it needed this information to determine whether she could afford the costs of proceeding without undue hardship or deprivation of life’s necessities.
Order and Effect
The court denied Richardson’s Application to Proceed in District Court Without Prepaying Fees or Costs without prejudice. The opinion explains that Richardson may reapply if she provides an appropriate, signed application with the needed financial information. The Clerk of Court was ordered to send her a blank copy of the District of Minnesota’s application template, Form AO 239.
By August 5, 2024, Richardson had to either pay the action’s filing fee or submit a new application to proceed without prepaying fees. If she did neither, the court stated that it may recommend dismissing the action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.