Gholson v. Home Box Office
- Laura Swain
- 1:26-cv-05854
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Lonnie Gholson v. Home Box Office, Judge Swain ordered Gholson to submit a signed complaint within 30 days or face dismissal.
Lonnie Gholson must submit an original signature page within 30 days for the case to proceed; the defendants are not yet required to respond because no summons has issued.
What happened
Lonnie Gholson v. Home Box Office (HBO), et al. was brought by Gholson without a lawyer, but he submitted his complaint without a signature. The court directed him to provide an original signature page.
The court gave Gholson 30 days from the order’s date to submit the signed page. No summons will issue for now, and the case will be processed if he complies; otherwise, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied payment-free status for an appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Gholson v. Home Box Office · No. 1:26-cv-05854
- Laura Swain
- July 20, 2026
Background
Lonnie Gholson brought the action without a lawyer and submitted a complaint that did not include a signature. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) requires an unrepresented party to personally sign a pleading. The opinion states that the required signature must be handwritten or a mark placed by hand.
Order
The court directed Gholson to submit the complaint’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days of the order. A copy of the signature page was attached to the order. No summons will issue at this time. If Gholson complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal and Effect
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 payment-free status for purposes of an appeal. The order does not decide the substance of Gholson’s claims against the defendants. 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.