Garland v. Clinton Correctional Facility
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-10947
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Garland v. City of New York, Judge Swain ordered a pro se plaintiff to provide an original signature within 30 days before the case could proceed.
Tamarkqua Garland, who was required to provide an original signature for the amended complaint; the action could be dismissed if he did not comply.
What happened
Tamarkqua Garland brought this case without a lawyer and submitted an amended complaint that did not include a handwritten or personally placed signature. The court required the complaint to comply with the federal rule requiring an unrepresented party to sign court papers.
The court ordered Garland to resubmit the amended complaint’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days. No summonses would be issued yet, and the case would be processed if Garland complied. The court stated that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying appellate filing fees for that appeal.
The detailed version
- Garland v. Clinton Correctional Facility · No. 1:22-cv-10947
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 27, 2023
Background
Tamarkqua Garland brought the action without a lawyer. The court construed a filing as an amended complaint, but the filing did not contain a signature. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) requires an unrepresented party to sign a pleading, motion, or other court paper personally. The court explained that the required signature must be handwritten or another mark placed by the party.
Order
The court ordered Garland to resubmit the amended complaint’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days after the order’s date. The court directed that no summonses issue at that time. If Garland complied, the action would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed.
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 permission to proceed without paying the required fees for purposes of an appeal. The order was signed by Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.