Stewart v. Jefferies
- Andrew Carter
- 1:23-cv-01563
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Stewart v. Jefferies, Judge Swain ordered a signed fee-waiver application within 30 days or dismissal, and denied appeal fee-waiver status.
Al-Fatah Stewart, the self-represented plaintiff, must provide the required original signature for the case to proceed.
What happened
In Stewart v. Jefferies, Al-Fatah Stewart, who is representing himself, submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees, but did not sign it. The court said federal and local rules require an unrepresented party to personally sign court papers.
The court ordered Stewart to send the application’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days. No summons will issue for now. If Stewart complies, the clerk’s office will process the case; if he does not, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the order on February 24, 2023. She also ruled that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for any appeal.
The detailed version
- Stewart v. Jefferies · No. 1:23-cv-01563
- Andrew Carter
- Feb. 24, 2023
Background
Al-Fatah Stewart brought the action without a lawyer. Stewart submitted an application to proceed without prepayment of court fees, but the application did not contain a signature.
Court’s analysis
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) and Local Civil Rule 11.1(a) require court filings by an unrepresented party to be personally signed. The court explained that this requirement calls for a handwritten name or a handplaced mark, rather than no signature.
Order
The court directed Stewart to resubmit the application’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days of the order. The court stated that no summons would issue at that time. If Stewart complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. If Stewart does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied the ability to proceed without prepaying appeal fees for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.