Yorro v. Jordan
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:19-cv-07688
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Yorro v. Jordan, Judge McMahon ordered Jacqueline Yorro to stop emailing chambers and denied appeal status without prepayment of fees.
Jacqueline Yorro, who was representing herself, was directed to communicate with the court only through the Pro Se Intake Unit and was denied status to appeal without prepaying fees.
What happened
In Yorro v. Jordan, the court said the action had been dismissed on February 21, 2020, and closed for more than two years. Jacqueline Yorro had recently sent more than a dozen emails to the judge’s chambers.
The court reminded Yorro that people representing themselves must submit papers through the Pro Se Intake Unit, not contact chambers by email, phone, or fax. The court directed her to stop trying to contact chambers by email and to use the required filing process for future written communications.
Judge Colleen McMahon directed Yorro to stop contacting the court by email or by any method other than filing documents with the Pro Se Intake Unit. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied her status to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Yorro v. Jordan · No. 1:19-cv-07688
- Colleen McMahon
- July 21, 2022
Background
The court had dismissed this action by an order dated February 21, 2020. The matter had been closed for more than two years when Jacqueline Yorro sent more than a dozen emails to Judge McMahon’s chambers.
Court’s directive
The court cited its standing order and Judge McMahon’s individual procedures, which require people representing themselves to file papers with the court’s Pro Se Intake Unit. Those procedures state that self-represented litigants may not contact chambers by phone, fax, or email, and that emails sent to chambers will be ignored. The court directed Yorro to stop further attempts to contact chambers by email. The conclusion broadened the directive to require her to communicate with the court only by filing documents with the Pro Se Intake Unit, rather than by email or any other method.
The opinion also noted that Yorro had recently filed a new action in the same court that had not yet been assigned to a district judge. It stated that documents concerning that new action also had to be submitted in writing to the Pro Se Intake Unit.
Appeal-related ruling
Judge Colleen McMahon certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. The court therefore denied Yorro status to pursue an appeal without prepaying fees. This order addressed communications with the court and appeal status; it did not revisit the earlier dismissal of the action.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.