Schulte v. United States of America
- Jesse Furman
- 1:21-cv-04042
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Schulte v. United States, Judge Furman consolidated twelve related cases under 21-CV-4042 and denied appeal-related fee waivers.
The parties in the twelve listed actions, because the cases were consolidated under Case No. 21-CV-4042 and future filings must be made on that docket; the plaintiff is also affected by the denial of fee-waiver status for an appeal.
What happened
Schulte v. United States of America involves twelve cases in which the defendants asked the court to combine the actions because they shared legal and factual questions.
The court ordered the cases consolidated under Case No. 21-CV-4042, while allowing each case to keep its separate identity. The court also directed that the other case files be closed and that future filings be made only in the lead case.
Judge Jesse Furman ruled that consolidation would make the cases more efficient and would not unfairly harm any party. He also found that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Schulte v. United States of America · No. 1:21-cv-04042
- Jesse Furman
- Jan. 12, 2022
Background
On January 11, 2022, the defendants moved to consolidate twelve related actions: Case Nos. 21-CV-4042, 21-CV-4800, 21-CV-5061, 21-CV-5168, 21-CV-5173, 21-CV-5213, 21-CV-5313, 21-CV-5554, 21-CV-5722, 21-CV-5851, 21-CV-5871, and 21-CV-6504.
Consolidation ruling
The court found that the actions involved common questions of law and fact and that combining them would promote efficient resolution. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42(a)(2), the court ordered the cases consolidated under Case No. 21-CV-4042. The court emphasized that the cases would retain their separate identities and concluded that consolidation would not prejudice any party.
The clerk was directed to close the eleven other listed case numbers, require all future filings to be made only on the 21-CV-4042 docket, and terminate the defendants’ consolidation motion in that docket. The court also directed that a copy of the order be mailed to the plaintiff.
Appeal-related ruling
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied the plaintiff’s fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims in the twelve actions.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.