White v. Department of Corrections

Background

Robert White, who the opinion says was being held at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island, filed this lawsuit without a lawyer. The complaint alleged that White and 27 other prisoners were subjected to forced, mandatory, random, or orchestrated specialized strip searches at the facility on August 29, 2025. Although the complaint listed all 28 prisoners as plaintiffs, only White signed it. White was also the only prisoner who submitted a signed application to proceed without paying the filing fee and a prisoner authorization; the court had granted White permission to proceed without paying the filing fee.

Court’s analysis

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 20 allows multiple plaintiffs to join one case when their claims arise from the same event or related events and share legal or factual questions. Rule 21 allows a court to separate claims when doing so will promote fairness and efficiency, even if joinder was otherwise proper.

The court concluded that the practical difficulties of managing a lawsuit involving 28 prisoners representing themselves supported separation. Each prisoner could appear only for himself or herself and could not act as a lawyer for the other prisoners. Each unrepresented plaintiff would also have to personally sign future filings. Because prisoners could be released or transferred, some might be unable to sign documents. The court also cited security concerns that could restrict the prisoners’ ability to discuss litigation strategy, exchange evidence, or share court filings, potentially causing piecemeal submissions, delays, and missed deadlines.

Order and effect

The court ordered the Clerk of Court to sever all claims except Robert White’s from the original action. White will proceed as the sole plaintiff in this case. The Clerk must open a separate civil action, with a new docket number, for each of the other 27 listed plaintiffs and file the original complaint and this order in each new case.

The newly opened cases will proceed independently unless the court later treats them as related or consolidates them. The order expressly did not decide whether the cases should later be treated as related or tried together. The other 27 plaintiffs will be directed to submit signed complaint signature pages and either pay the required fees or submit completed applications to proceed without paying the filing fee and prisoner authorizations.

The court certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order on October 30, 2025.