Farrar v. Michell
- Louis Stanton
- 1:20-cv-03762
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Farrar v. Michell, Judge McMahon ordered self-represented plaintiff Shanice Farrar to submit an original signature within 30 days or face dismissal.
Shanice Farrar, a self-represented plaintiff, must provide an original signature on the complaint within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Farrar v. Michell, Shanice Farrar brought the action without a lawyer, but she submitted her complaint without signing it. Federal and local court rules require an unrepresented party to sign court papers personally.
The court ordered Farrar to resubmit the complaint’s signature page with an original handwritten signature within 30 days. The court said no summons would issue yet and that the case would proceed if she complied; if she did not, the action would be dismissed.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also stated that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the filing fees.
The detailed version
- Farrar v. Michell · No. 1:20-cv-03762
- Louis Stanton
- June 17, 2020
Background
Shanice Farrar brought this action without a lawyer. She submitted the complaint without a signature. The court cited the federal rule requiring every pleading, motion, and other court paper to be signed by an attorney or, when a party is unrepresented, by that party personally. The court also cited the corresponding local rule. It explained that the signature must be handwritten or another mark placed by the person.
A footnote states that court records identify the defendant’s true name as Mitchell J. Danzinger and state that he is a Justice in the New York State Supreme Court. The caption, however, identifies the defendant as Danziger Michell.
Order
The court directed Farrar to resubmit the complaint’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days of the order. The Clerk of Court was directed 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, if Farrar complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If she failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed. The order therefore directed a required correction; it did not itself dismiss the action.
Appeal-related ruling and judge
The court certified under the federal statute governing payment-free appeals that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied payment-free status for an appeal. The order was issued by Chief United States District Judge Colleen McMahon.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.