Auguste v. Mayor Eric Adams
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-00410
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Auguste v. The City of New York, Judge Swain ordered pro se plaintiff Cherryl Auguste to sign her application or face dismissal without prejudice.
Cherryl Auguste and the status of her case: she must submit a signed filing-fee application within 30 days for the case to be processed, or the action will be dismissed without prejudice.
What happened
In Auguste v. The City of New York, Cherryl Auguste brought the case without a lawyer and submitted an application to proceed without paying the filing fee. The application was not signed.
The court ordered Auguste to sign and submit the attached signature page within 30 days. No summons or answer will issue yet. If she complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case; if she does not, the action will be dismissed without prejudice.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying the appeal fee.
The detailed version
- Auguste v. Mayor Eric Adams · No. 1:25-cv-00410
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 30, 2025
Background
Cherryl Auguste filed this action without a lawyer. She submitted an application to proceed without paying the filing fee, but the application was unsigned. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) requires an unrepresented party to personally sign a pleading, motion, or other paper.
Court’s Order
The court directed Auguste to sign and submit the attached signature page of her filing-fee application within 30 days of the order. The court stated that no summons or answer would issue at that time. If Auguste complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. If she does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed without prejudice, meaning the order does not bar refiling.
Appeal and Disposition
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to proceed without paying the filing fee for an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.