Mendoza v. FDIC
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-11285
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Mendoza v. FDIC, Judge Swain ordered the pro se plaintiff to resubmit her unsigned fee-waiver application with an original signature within 30 days.
Karen G. Mendoza, whose case must be supplemented with a properly signed fee application before it can be processed; the order also affects any attempted appeal by denying fee-waiver status for that appeal.
What happened
In Mendoza v. FDIC, Karen G. Mendoza brought an action without a lawyer and submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees. The application did not contain an original signature.
The court ordered Mendoza to resubmit the application with an original signature within 30 days. The court directed that no summons be issued at that time.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain stated that the case would proceed through the Clerk’s Office if Mendoza complied, but that the action would be dismissed if she did not. The court also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal and certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Mendoza v. FDIC · No. 1:23-cv-11285
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 11, 2024
Background
Karen G. Mendoza filed the action without a lawyer and submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis. The application was not signed.
Court’s Analysis
The court relied on Rule 11(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Local Civil Rule 11.1(a), which require an unrepresented party to personally sign a pleading, motion, or other court paper. The court explained that this requirement calls for a handwritten signature or a handplaced mark.
Ruling
The court ordered Mendoza to resubmit the fee application with an original signature within 30 days of the order. No summons would issue at that time. If Mendoza complied, the action would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if she failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. The court also certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied the ability to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.