White v. Warner Music Group
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-07414
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In White v. Warner Music Group, Judge Swain ordered a pro se plaintiff to submit a signed fee-waiver application within 30 days or face dismissal.
Brian K. White, who must provide an original signature on his fee application for the action to proceed; Warner Music Group is the defendant in the action.
What happened
In White v. Warner Music Group, Brian K. White brought the action without a lawyer and submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees. The application did not include a handwritten or personally placed signature.
The court ordered White to submit the application’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days. No summons will issue for now; if he complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case, but if he does not, the action will be dismissed.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for any appeal.
The detailed version
- White v. Warner Music Group · No. 1:22-cv-07414
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 1, 2022
Background
Brian K. White brought this action without a lawyer. He submitted an application to proceed without prepayment of court fees, commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, but did not sign it.
Court’s Analysis
The court cited Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) and Local Civil Rule 11.1(a), which require an unrepresented party to sign each pleading, written motion, and other paper personally. The court explained that this requirement calls for a handwritten signature or a mark placed by the person.
Order
The court directed White to resubmit the signature page of his fee application with an original signature within 30 days of the order. No summons shall issue at this time. If White complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its usual procedures. If he fails to comply within the permitted time, the action will be dismissed.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims against Warner Music Group.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.