Flowers v. The State of Texas
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-08648
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Flowers v. The State of Texas, Judge Swain ordered original signatures within 30 days, withheld summonses, and denied fee-free appeal status.
Millania Flowers, Zyyon Sims, and Trenesha Biggers, the plaintiffs listed in the caption; the opinion specifically states that Flowers and Sims submitted the unsigned complaint.
What happened
In Flowers v. The State of Texas, Millania Flowers and Zyyon Sims submitted the complaint without a handwritten signature. The plaintiffs were proceeding without lawyers.
The court ordered the plaintiffs to resubmit the complaint’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days. No summons would be issued yet. If they complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case; if they did not, the action would be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees. The order did not address the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Flowers v. The State of Texas · No. 1:22-cv-08648
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 14, 2022
Background
The plaintiffs brought the action without lawyers. The opinion states that Millania Flowers and Zyyon Sims submitted the complaint without a signature. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) requires a filing by an unrepresented party to bear that party’s personal signature. The court also cited the Southern District of New York’s local signature rule.
Order
The court directed the plaintiffs to resubmit the complaint’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days of the order. A copy of the signature page was attached. The court stated that no summons would issue at that time. If the plaintiffs complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case under its procedures. If they failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and disposition
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the plaintiffs’ underlying claims. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order as Chief United States District Judge.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.