Ma v. Frank J. Bisignano
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-08041
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Lai Mun Ma v. Bisignano, Chief Judge Swain ordered a pro se plaintiff to pay fees or seek authorization to proceed without prepayment and submit an original signature.
Lai Mun Ma must pay the required fees or submit an application to proceed without prepayment and must provide an original signature within 30 days for the action to continue processing.
What happened
Lai Mun Ma v. Frank J. Bisignano concerns a complaint filed without the required filing fees, an application to proceed without prepaying those fees, and an original signature.
The court gave Lai Mun Ma 30 days to either pay $405 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepayment. Lai Mun Ma must also submit the complaint’s signature page with an original signature. No summons will issue yet.
If Lai Mun Ma does not comply within 30 days, the action will be dismissed; if Lai Mun Ma complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case. Chief Judge Swain also denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for any appeal because the court determined an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Ma v. Frank J. Bisignano · No. 1:25-cv-08041
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 30, 2025
Background
Lai Mun Ma filed this civil action without paying the required fees and without submitting an application to proceed in forma pauperis, meaning without prepaying the filing fees. The complaint also lacked a handwritten or otherwise original signature.
Order
The court directed Lai Mun Ma, within 30 days of the order, to do both of the following:
1. Either pay $405 in fees—the $350 filing fee and $55 administrative fee—or submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying those fees, labeled with docket number 25-CV-8041 (LTS). 2. Resubmit the complaint’s signature page with an original signature.
No summons will issue at this time. If Lai Mun Ma complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. If Lai Mun Ma does not comply within the allowed period, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal-related ruling
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied authorization to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.