Baragi v. Barr
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:19-cv-10553
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Baragi v. Barr, Judge McMahon ordered Musa Baragi to submit an original signature page within 30 days.
Musa Baragi must provide an original signature page; the clerk must mail him the order and record service.
What happened
In Baragi v. Barr, Musa Baragi filed the action without a lawyer, but the petition did not include a signature.
The court explained that court filings by people without lawyers must include that person’s handwritten signature or mark. Baragi had paid the filing fee.
Judge McMahon directed Baragi to submit the petition’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days and directed the clerk to mail him the order.
The detailed version
- Baragi v. Barr · No. 1:19-cv-10553
- Ronnie Abrams
- Nov. 15, 2019
Background
Musa Baragi brought this action without a lawyer against William Barr, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the United States; Kevin McAleenan, in his official capacity as Secretary of Homeland Security; Thomas R. Decker, in his official capacity as Deputy Director of the New York Enforcement Removal Operations Field Office; and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Baragi paid the filing fee, but he submitted the petition without a signature.
Court’s Analysis
The court relied on Rule 11(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Local Civil Rule 11.1(a). Those rules require a court filing to be signed by an attorney of record or, when a person is not represented, by that person personally. The court explained that the signature must be handwritten or a hand-placed mark.
Order
The court directed Baragi to resubmit the petition’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days of the order. Judge Colleen McMahon also directed the clerk to mail Baragi a copy of the order and note service on the docket. This order addresses the missing signature and does not state a ruling on the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.