Rosenberg v. City of New York
- Louis Stanton
- 1:20-cv-03911
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Rosenberg v. City of New York, Judge McMahon ordered the pro se plaintiffs to pay fees or seek fee waivers and provide original signatures.
Rudy Rosenberg, Jacqueline Rosenberg, and Eltha Jordan were required to satisfy the fee, application, declaration, and signature requirements within 30 days to proceed as plaintiffs. The case would be dismissed if none complied.
What happened
Rosenberg v. City of New York involves Rudy Rosenberg, Jacqueline Rosenberg, and Eltha Jordan, who filed one complaint without lawyers. They had not paid the required fees or submitted applications to proceed without paying them, and the court found that their complaint and related filings used computer-generated signatures.
The court gave each plaintiff 30 days to either pay the required $400 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. Each plaintiff also had to submit a signed declaration confirming an intention to be a plaintiff and resubmit a signature page with an original signature. The case would be processed only for plaintiffs who complied; if none complied, the matter would be dismissed.
Judge Colleen McMahon also stated that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order to each plaintiff and record service.
The detailed version
- Rosenberg v. City of New York · No. 1:20-cv-03911
- Louis Stanton
- May 22, 2020
Background
Rudy Rosenberg, Jacqueline Rosenberg, and Eltha Jordan filed a joint complaint without lawyers. The opinion states that the required fees had not been paid and that the plaintiffs had not submitted applications to proceed without prepaying fees. The court also observed that the complaint contained computer-generated signatures. Rudy Rosenberg's signature appeared in one font, while the signatures attributed to Jacqueline Rosenberg and Eltha Jordan appeared in another font and were identical to each other. The plaintiffs' amended motions to proceed under pseudonyms also contained the same computer-generated signatures.
Legal requirements
The court stated that a civil action requires either payment of $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or a signed application requesting permission to proceed without prepaying fees. It also cited Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a), which requires an unrepresented party to personally sign a pleading, motion, or other paper. The court explained that this requirement calls for a handwritten name or a mark placed by the person signing.
Order
Within 30 days of the order, the plaintiffs were required to do three things: (1) pay the $400 fee or each submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees; (2) each sign and submit the attached declaration confirming that person's intention to be a plaintiff; and (3) each resubmit the signature page from the amended motion to proceed under a pseudonym. The documents had to contain original signatures and identify docket number 20-CV-3911 (CM).
The order stated that only plaintiffs who complied within the deadline would be permitted to proceed as parties. If no plaintiff complied, the matter would be dismissed. The Clerk of Court was directed to mail a copy of the order to each plaintiff and record service on the docket.
Appeal and classification
Judge Colleen McMahon certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. This was a procedural order addressing filing fees, applications to proceed without prepayment, and signature requirements; it did not decide the underlying claims against the City of New York or the other defendants.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.