Spencer El Dey v. Children's Village
- Cathy Seibel
- 7:20-cv-10377
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Abdullah Spencer-El-Dey v. Children’s Village, Judge McMahon ordered the unrepresented plaintiff to sign his complaint within 30 days or face dismissal.
Abdullah Spencer-El-Dey, who was required to provide an original signature for his complaint within 30 days to avoid dismissal; Children’s Village and Boy Scouts of America were the named defendants.
What happened
In Abdullah Spencer-El-Dey v. Children’s Village, Abdullah Spencer-El-Dey sued Children’s Village and Boy Scouts of America without a lawyer. The complaint did not contain his original signature.
The court explained that court rules require an unrepresented party to personally sign a complaint. It ordered him to sign and return a declaration form for his complaint within 30 days.
Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk to mail the order to Spencer-El-Dey and stated that no summons would issue yet. If he complied, the case would proceed through the Clerk’s Office; if he did not, the action would be dismissed. The court also denied him permission to appeal without paying filing fees.
The detailed version
- Spencer El Dey v. Children's Village · No. 7:20-cv-10377
- Cathy Seibel
- Dec. 11, 2020
Background
Abdullah Spencer-El-Dey brought this action without a lawyer against Children’s Village and Boy Scouts of America. He submitted his complaint without an original signature.
Court’s Analysis
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a), along with Local Civil Rule 11.1(a), requires a party who is not represented by a lawyer to sign a pleading personally. The court cited the Supreme Court’s explanation that the rule requires a handwritten name or a mark placed by hand.
Order
The court ordered Spencer-El-Dey to sign and submit the attached declaration form for his complaint within 30 days of the order. The Clerk was directed to mail him a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time.
If Spencer-El-Dey complied, the action would be processed under the Clerk’s Office’s procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees.
Classification
This is a procedural order because the court addressed a filing requirement and did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.