Zubair v. ConEdison Company of NY
- Louis Stanton
- 1:20-cv-01313
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Zubair v. Con Edison Company of NY, Chief Judge McMahon ordered pro se plaintiff Ahmed Husain Zubair to submit original signatures within 30 days.
Pro se plaintiff Ahmed Husain Zubair, whose action was conditioned on submitting original signatures; the defendants were not affected by a merits ruling.
What happened
In Zubair v. Con Edison Company of NY, pro se plaintiff Ahmed Husain Zubair submitted his complaint and consent to electronic service without handwritten signatures. The opinion states that federal and local rules require an unrepresented party to personally sign court papers.
The court directed Zubair to resubmit the signature pages with original signatures within 30 days. The Clerk was ordered to mail him the order, and no summons would issue at that time. The case would proceed under the Clerk’s procedures if he complied; otherwise, the action would be dismissed.
Chief United States District Judge Colleen McMahon also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Zubair v. ConEdison Company of NY · No. 1:20-cv-01313
- Louis Stanton
- Feb. 18, 2020
Background
Ahmed Husain Zubair brought the action without a lawyer. He submitted his complaint and his consent to electronic service of court documents without original signatures.
Court’s Analysis
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) requires every pleading, written motion, and other paper to be signed by an attorney or, when a party is unrepresented, by that party personally. The court also cited Local Civil Rule 11.1(a) and explained that the required signature must be handwritten or otherwise physically placed on the document.
Order and Disposition
Judge Colleen McMahon directed Zubair to resubmit the signature pages of his complaint and his consent to electronic service with original signatures within 30 days of the order. The Clerk of Court was directed to mail him a copy and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. If Zubair complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s procedures; if he did not comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The order addressed filing requirements and did not reach the merits of Zubair’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.