He v. United States of America

Background

Xuejie He filed a notice of appeal from the Court’s earlier order dismissing her amended complaint. On the same day, she filed a motion asking the Court to reconsider that dismissal. The opinion states that He was representing herself. Her filing asked the Court to restore the case to its calendar and included proof that she had paid the filing fee and a Third Circuit decision discussed in the dismissal orders.

Jurisdiction over the reconsideration request

The Court explained that a notice of appeal ordinarily removes jurisdiction from the district court. However, when a timely motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) is pending, the district court may decide that motion before the appeal becomes effective. Although He’s reconsideration motion appeared to have been filed after the notice of appeal, the Court assumed, because she was representing herself, that she intended to file it first or at least at the same time.

Legal standard and ruling

The Court construed He’s filing as a motion under Rule 59(e). That rule permits a court to change or amend a judgment only to correct a clear legal error or prevent a serious unfairness. The moving party must identify controlling legal decisions or factual matters already presented to the court that could reasonably have produced a different result.

The Court concluded that He had not met that demanding standard. Her declaration asserted that she had federal-court jurisdiction and that her complaint satisfied the federal pleading rule, but she did not identify any controlling issue of law or fact that the Court had overlooked. The Court therefore DENIES Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration. It directed the Clerk of Court to terminate the pending motion at docket entry 8.