Hankerson v. Unclaim Funds of Commissioner
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-02384
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Hankerson v. Original Unclaim Funds of Commissioner, Judge Swain ordered Theresa Ann Hankerson to submit a signed fee-waiver application within 30 days.
Theresa Ann Hankerson, whose case was placed on hold pending submission of a properly signed fee-waiver application.
What happened
In Hankerson v. Original Unclaim Funds of Commissioner, Theresa Ann Hankerson filed the case without a lawyer and asked to proceed without paying court fees in advance. Her application was not signed.
The court ordered Hankerson to submit the signature page with an original signature within 30 days. The court said no summons would issue yet, and that the case would be processed if she complied; otherwise, the action would be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Hankerson v. Unclaim Funds of Commissioner · No. 1:24-cv-02384
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 29, 2024
Background
Theresa Ann Hankerson brought this action without a lawyer. She submitted an application to proceed without paying filing fees in advance, but the application did not contain her signature.
Court’s Analysis
The court relied on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) and Local Civil Rule 11.1(a), which require an unrepresented party to personally sign pleadings and other papers. The court explained that the required signature must be handwritten or otherwise personally placed on the document.
Order
The court ordered Hankerson to resubmit the signature page of her fee-waiver application with an original signature within 30 days of the order. The court stated that no summons would issue at that time. If Hankerson complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case under its procedures. If she did not comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.