Annarumma v. Homeland Security Investigation
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-00432
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Annarumma v. Homeland Security Investigation, Judge Swain denied an appeal-time extension as unnecessary because the appeal was timely.
Guerino Mario Annarumma’s request for more time to appeal was denied as unnecessary because his notice of appeal was timely. The court also denied permission to proceed without paying filing fees for an appeal from this order.
What happened
In Annarumma v. Homeland Security Investigation, the court had dismissed the case and entered judgment on March 25, 2022. Guerino Mario Annarumma later filed a notice of appeal and asked for more time to appeal.
Because the lawsuit involved several United States agencies, the court said he had 60 days to appeal, rather than 30 days. The court also applied the rule treating a prisoner’s filing as submitted when given to prison officials for mailing, and assumed Annarumma gave his notice to prison officials on April 18.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied the motion for an extension as unnecessary because the appeal was timely. She also denied permission to proceed without paying filing fees for an appeal from this order, after certifying that such an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Annarumma v. Homeland Security Investigation · No. 1:22-cv-00432
- Laura Swain
- May 2, 2022
Background
Guerino Mario Annarumma, who was incarcerated at Attica Correctional Facility and represented himself, brought this action against Homeland Security Investigation and other defendants. The court dismissed the complaint on March 24, 2022, and entered judgment on March 25, 2022. The court received Annarumma’s notice of appeal and motion for an extension of time to appeal on April 25, 2022.
Reasoning
The usual deadline for appealing a civil judgment is 30 days. When one of the parties is a United States agency, however, the deadline is 60 days. Because Annarumma sued several United States agencies, the court determined that he had 60 days from March 25, 2022, to file a timely notice of appeal.
The court also applied the prisoner-mailbox rule, under which a prisoner’s filing is treated as filed when the prisoner gives it to prison officials for mailing. Annarumma signed the notice of appeal on April 18, 2022, and the court assumed he gave it to prison officials that day. The court therefore concluded that the appeal was filed within the 60-day deadline, even though the court received it 31 days after judgment.
Ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied Annarumma’s motion for an extension of time to appeal as unnecessary. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying filing fees for that appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.