Jiggetts v. State of Maryland
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-04910
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Jiggetts v. State of Maryland, Judge McMahon denied a sealing motion because the case had been transferred and this court lacked jurisdiction.
Alexander Jiggetts's motion to seal was denied because the Southern District of New York lacked jurisdiction after transferring the action. The clerk also was directed not to accept further submissions under the closed case number, except papers for the Second Circuit, and fee-free status was denied for an appeal from this order.
What happened
In Jiggetts v. State of Maryland, Alexander Jiggetts asked the Southern District of New York to seal the action after that court had transferred it to the District of Maryland.
The court explained that a court transferring a case generally loses authority over it once the receiving court gets the case papers. Jiggetts filed the sealing request after that happened.
Judge Colleen McMahon denied the motion for lack of jurisdiction. She directed the clerk not to accept further filings under the closed case number, except papers for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and denied fee-free status for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Jiggetts v. State of Maryland · No. 1:20-cv-04910
- Colleen McMahon
- Aug. 30, 2023
Background
The Southern District of New York transferred this action to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland by order dated July 7, 2020. On January 30, 2023, Plaintiff Alexander Jiggetts filed a motion to seal the action.
Jurisdiction
The court explained that transferring a case generally removes the transferor court's authority to act on the case. The transferor court keeps that authority only if the party seeking review acts to stop the transfer before the clerk of the receiving court receives the case papers. Here, Plaintiff filed the sealing motion after the District of Maryland had received the papers. The Southern District of New York therefore concluded that it lacked jurisdiction—legal authority—to consider the motion. The court stated that, if Plaintiff seeks to seal the action there, he must file the request in the District of Maryland and ask that court to transfer the action back to the Southern District of New York for consideration of the motion.
Ruling
Judge Colleen McMahon denied Plaintiff's motion to seal for lack of jurisdiction. The clerk was directed not to accept further submissions from Plaintiff under the closed case number, except papers directed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.