Cain v. Mercy College
- Louis Stanton
- 1:20-cv-02262
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Cain v. Mercy College, Judge McMahon ordered pro se plaintiff Ileen Cain to submit an original signature for her fee-waiver application within 30 days.
Ileen Cain, who was ordered to submit an original signature on her fee application; the action could be dismissed if she failed to comply.
What happened
In Cain v. Mercy College, Ileen Cain brought the action without a lawyer and submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees. The application did not include her signature.
The court directed Cain to send the signature page with an original, handwritten signature within 30 days of the order. The court did not issue a summons at that time.
Judge Colleen McMahon stated that the case would be processed if Cain complied and would be dismissed if she did not. The court also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal from the order, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Cain v. Mercy College · No. 1:20-cv-02262
- Louis Stanton
- Apr. 15, 2020
Background
Ileen Cain sued Mercy College and represented herself. She submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, but the application was not signed.
Court’s Analysis
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) and Local Civil Rule 11.1(a) require an unrepresented party to personally sign a pleading, motion, or other court paper. The court stated that this requirement calls for a handwritten name or a handplaced mark. The court therefore directed Cain to resubmit the signature page of her fee application with an original signature.
Order and Effect
The court ordered Cain to provide the signed page within 30 days of April 15, 2020, and directed the Clerk of Court to mail her a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that the action would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Cain complied, but would be dismissed if she failed to comply within the allowed period.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied the ability to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The opinion does not state that the action was dismissed at the time of this order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.