Xiuling Wei v. Yahoo, Inc.

Background

Xiuling Wei, Weiguo Wang, Yipeng Wang, and Anastasiia Marchuk, appearing without lawyers, submitted an application under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 for an order permitting discovery for use in a foreign proceeding. They also submitted a civil cover sheet indicating that they were bringing a civil proceeding against Yahoo, Inc. The petitioners did not pay the filing fee or submit applications to proceed without prepaying fees.

The Clerk treated the application as a new complaint and opened it as civil action No. 24-CV-9077 (LTS). The court explained that an application seeking discovery for use in a foreign proceeding under § 1782 should be opened as a miscellaneous matter instead of as a civil action.

Disposition

The court directed the Clerk to: (1) close the civil action without prejudice to the petitioners litigating their claims in the miscellaneous case; (2) open a new miscellaneous case; (3) docket the order, application, and other filings in that case; and (4) process the matter under the Clerk’s Office procedures. The order addresses the case’s classification and processing; it does not state whether the requested discovery will ultimately be permitted.

Fee and Appeal Requirements

Within 30 days of the order, the petitioners must pay the $52 fee for filing a miscellaneous action or, for each petitioner seeking to proceed without prepaying fees, submit a completed and signed application to do so. The court 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 appeal without prepaying fees.