White v. Department of Corrections

Background

Robert White filed this action without a lawyer while held at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island. The complaint names White and 27 other prisoners as plaintiffs and alleges that they were forced to undergo unacceptable, mandatory, random, or orchestrated specialized strip searches at the facility on August 29, 2025. White was the only plaintiff who signed the complaint. He was also the only plaintiff who filed a signed application to proceed without paying filing fees and a prisoner authorization; the court had granted him that status.

Why the court separated the claims

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 20 permits multiple plaintiffs to proceed together when their claims arise from the same event or related events and share a legal or factual question. Rule 21 allows a court to separate claims when doing so is appropriate, including to avoid prejudice, expense, or delay.

The court concluded that the practical difficulties of managing a lawsuit involving 28 unrepresented prisoners favored separation. Each plaintiff may represent only himself or herself, so White could not represent the other prisoners. Each unrepresented plaintiff would also have to personally sign documents filed in the case. Because prisoners could be released or transferred, some might be unable to sign future filings. The court also cited security-related limits on communication, which could interfere with sharing case materials, coordinating litigation, and meeting deadlines.

Order

The court severed all claims belonging to the 27 plaintiffs other than White under Rule 21. White will proceed as the sole plaintiff in this action. The Clerk of Court must open a separate civil action, with a new docket number, for each of the 27 other plaintiffs and file a copy of the complaint and this order in each new case. The other plaintiffs will then be directed to provide signed complaint signature pages and either pay the required fees or submit completed applications to proceed without paying filing fees and prisoner authorizations.

The new cases will proceed independently and the plaintiffs will not be treated as co-plaintiffs unless the court later orders otherwise. The court did not decide whether the cases could later be treated as related or consolidated. The order did not decide the merits of the allegations. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees.