Anyone with a lawsuit against USCIS or thinking about a lawsuit (Merged)

The number I would trust is the one from CIS itself - per the statement issued by the Director of CIS in the October newsletter on their website - 130,000 applications have been completed for all processing and are waiting to be adjudicated but do not have name checks completed. To this if you were to add 485 applicants, 180000 sounds about right. So about 2K lawsuits sounds like a small fraction - but for the legal system thats too much to handle. I have seen cases going into complications only when name checks are not received in a timely fashion or if there derogatory information.
 
Another Victory

I would like to thank this forum.
Best wishes to everyone.

Here is my detail:

N-400 filed 6/2004
1st FP 7/2004
Interview 10/2004 (passed but NC pending)
1447b filed 9/28/06 central dist. court, CA;
Defendants served: 10/02/06
AUSA Served: 10/05/06
NC Cleared: 11/1/06
2nd FP: 11/30/06
Sign the dismissal form: 12/6/06
Oath letter received from AUSA: 12/7/06
Oath Date: 01/12/07
 
huxf said:
Thank you very much, Madison04. Your answers greatly clarify my understandings. I really appreciate it.
So what is your suggestion? file PRO SE together with my wife, or file just by myself?

More husband/wife PRO SE expereinces here?
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You're welcome.

If your and your wife's situations are same (same PD, same delay), i.e. USCIS is causing hardship on both of you, then I would suggest you both file pro se suits. I believe that either the court will combine the two into one, or the US Attorney will assign them to the same AUSA. So, it's almost like filing a pro se with multiple plaintiffs. It won't cost you that much more to file two pro se cases ($350 court fee + ~$50 service costs). The two complaints are pretty much the same, so it's no big deal to prepare two.

The other option is to hire a lawyer. This way, both of you can be the plaintiffs at the same time.

Either way, I don't think it's a good idea to solve your own problem now and leave your wife's for the future.
 
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helenzli said:
I would like to thank this forum.
Best wishes to everyone.

Here is my detail:

N-400 filed 6/2004
1st FP 7/2004
Interview 10/2004 (passed but NC pending)
1447b filed 9/28/06 central dist. court, CA;
Defendants served: 10/02/06
AUSA Served: 10/05/06
NC Cleared: 11/1/06
2nd FP: 11/30/06
Sign the dismissal form: 12/6/06
Oath letter received from AUSA: 12/7/06
Oath Date: 01/12/07
Click to expand...

Congratulations helenzli! One more victory. It' good to see that ultimately we are winning...
 
Address needed;

I am going to send a letter to District Director Rosemary Melville in ATLANTA Office. What is the mailing address?
 
Bushmaster said:
Address needed;

I am going to send a letter to District Director Rosemary Melville in ATLANTA Office. What is the mailing address?
Click to expand...

Here you go

Defendant Rosemary L. Melville’s mailing address is Director of the USCIS

Altanta District Office Atlanta District Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building

77 Forsyth Street SW Atlanta, GA 30303
 
I came across an article about filing Mandamus action to expedite name check, posted online by a Chinese immigration attorney. They charge $3500 for filing the civil lawsuit. My employer doesn't want to pay for that. That's when I found this 480-page/7000-post thread. I am still in the preparation stage of filing the lawsuit Pro Se. I was encouraged by the victories posted in this thread.

I-140 AD Nov. 02
I-485 RD Jan. 03
FP Mar. 05
FP Dec. 06
 
Bushmaster said:
Address needed;

I am going to send a letter to District Director Rosemary Melville in ATLANTA Office. What is the mailing address?
Click to expand...

Bushmaster,

Here is the address:

77 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, GA 30303

Good luck my friend.
 
Thanks again, Madison. In fact, my wife's name check has finished last September. Her process was delay simply because of my name check. So i don't know if she can present a strong case. In my district (very small), I only found 2 cases filed recently and they both won. Looks like the AUSA is helping. In one case, there is one plaintiff, but i found out that his other family member got approvals at the same time, 40 days after he (only he) filed WOM. The other case has two plaintiffs, i.e., husband and wife. They also got approvals. The AUSA did file an extention, and US attorney mentioned that he was trying to dismiss outside the court and had alreay made sinificant progress (expediate?). From that, I figured the district attorney is not leat not hostile. As a matter of fact, I checked the documents after the case closed. I found that the husband's case had been approved before the US attorney filed the extension and the wife's case was approved just 1 dat after the US attorney filed extension. Looks like the plaintiffs didn't dismiss the case until they all got approved.
I strongly agree that I can't leave my wife behind. So I'm going to take the chance to file PRO SE together with my wife (in one case). Keep our fingers crossed.
BTW, if unluckliy the US attorney use this to defend, what do we do? I think we can at least withdraw and refile 2 PRO SE cases, right?

Thanks for your help. This is a great place.

Madison04 said:
You're welcome.

If your and your wife's situations are same (same PD, same delay), i.e. USCIS is causing hardship on both of you, then I would suggest you both file pro se suits. I believe that either the court will combine the two into one, or the US Attorney will assign them to the same AUSA. So, it's almost like filing a pro se with multiple plaintiffs. It won't cost you that much more to file two pro se cases ($350 court fee + ~$50 service costs). The two complaints are pretty much the same, so it's no big deal to prepare two.

The other option is to hire a lawyer. This way, both of you can be the plaintiffs at the same time.

Either way, I don't think it's a good idea to solve your own problem now and leave your wife's for the future.
Click to expand...
 
huxf said:
Thanks again, Madison. In fact, my wife's name check has finished last September. Her process was delay simply because of my name check. So i don't know if she can present a strong case. In my district (very small), I only found 2 cases filed recently and they both won. Looks like the AUSA is helping. In one case, there is one plaintiff, but i found out that his other family member got approvals at the same time, 40 days after he (only he) filed WOM. The other case has two plaintiffs, i.e., husband and wife. They also got approvals. The AUSA did file an extention, and US attorney mentioned that he was trying to dismiss outside the court and had alreay made sinificant progress (expediate?). From that, I figured the district attorney is not leat not hostile. As a matter of fact, I checked the documents after the case closed. I found that the husband's case had been approved before the US attorney filed the extension and the wife's case was approved just 1 dat after the US attorney filed extension. Looks like the plaintiffs didn't dismiss the case until they all got approved.
I strongly agree that I can't leave my wife behind. So I'm going to take the chance to file PRO SE together with my wife (in one case). Keep our fingers crossed.
BTW, if unluckliy the US attorney use this to defend, what do we do? I think we can at least withdraw and refile 2 PRO SE cases, right?

Thanks for your help. This is a great place.
Click to expand...

You probably will not have to withdraw your original complaint (if AUSA is using this against you), you can ammend it, to drop your wife being a second Plaintiff and file after that a second lawsuit with your wife as a Plaintiff. There is no charge to ammend a complaint, if you withdraw and file two separate ones, you would lose $350 filing fee.
 
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Thanks a lot, paz1960.
We will go to the court next Monday.
paz1960 said:
You probably will not have to withdraw your original complaint (if AUSA is using this against you), you can ammend it, to drop your wife being a second Plaintiff and file after that a second lawsuit with your wife as a Plaintiff. There is no charge to ammend a complaint, if you withdraw and file two separate ones, you would lose $350 filing fee.
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Any recommendation for 5th circuit court

paz1960 said:
The 4th and 9th circuit courts are part of the US Circuit Court of Appeals system. The federal courts are organized in 3 levels. You start your lawsuit in the district court where you reside. If you are not happy with the decision of the district court, you can appeal it at one level higher: the circuit court where your district belongs. And the last level of appeal (suppose that you are still unhappy with the decision of the circuit court) is the US Supreme Court.

You can find the division of the country's federal judiciary at http://www.uscourts.gov/courtlinks/
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I live in Texas and thanks to your link I found out I am in 5th circiut court which is extremely conservative I guess.
I am hearing judges dismissing the cases before trial in Texas. What options do we have as people who live in DEEP SOUTH? Any ideas?
Thanks,
 
springbranch said:
I live in Texas and thanks to your link I found out I am in 5th circiut court which is extremely conservative I guess.
I am hearing judges dismissing the cases before trial in Texas. What options do we have as people who live in DEEP SOUTH? Any ideas?
Thanks,
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As far as I know there is only one judge in Houston (S. D. Texas) who will not let even to begin such cases and immediately remands them to USCIS. I know several other cases, which were successful in that district court.

If you reside in that district, I'm afraid that you don't have an option. 1447(b) states clearly that you can file a complaint in the district court where you reside. There was a member of this forum with a different opinion (milena), she actually suggested an alternative, but because I don't agree with the suggestion, I'm not going to repost it here. You can do a search for her postings and decide yourself.
 
Petition:

After filing a 14447 (b) with the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida mid November I received a letter from court which reads as follows:

Plaintiff
vs.
Alberto Gonzales et al.

NOTICE OF DESIGNATION UNDER LOCAL RULE 3.05

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT, in accordance with Local Rule 3.05, this action is designated as a Track One Case. Filing party (who instituted suit in this court) is responsible for serving a copy of this notice upon all other parties. However, all parties shall meet the requirements in Local Rule 3.05 for cases designated on this track.

Signature

Destribution:
Copies to filing party -- habeas petitioner, bankruptcy appellant or removing defendant).
The second page consists of a track of the electronic filing/activity of my case.

Do you have any idea what this means? Do I need to send this AGAIN to all the defendants?

Thanks for the input.
 
Saarlaender said:
Petition:

After filing a 14447 (b) with the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida mid November I received a letter from court which reads as follows:

Plaintiff
vs.
Alberto Gonzales et al.

NOTICE OF DESIGNATION UNDER LOCAL RULE 3.05

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT, in accordance with Local Rule 3.05, this action is designated as a Track One Case. Filing party (who instituted suit in this court) is responsible for serving a copy of this notice upon all other parties. However, all parties shall meet the requirements in Local Rule 3.05 for cases designated on this track.

Signature

Destribution:
Copies to filing party -- habeas petitioner, bankruptcy appellant or removing defendant).
The second page consists of a track of the electronic filing/activity of my case.

Do you have any idea what this means? Do I need to send this AGAIN to all the defendants?

Thanks for the input.
Click to expand...
First of all, please look up what Local Rule 3.05 is about. The Local Rules are most likely posted on the court's web page. Post this rule and we can try to help you.
 
My lawsuit experience

Hi Guys,
I am an unfortunante person with a very common name. Furthermore my forst name and last name is the same. So needless to say I have been harassed since 9/11 from airports to mortgage refinancing. When I filed for my citizenship I got stuck in this name check ordeal. My wife Got hers.

I filed through a lawyer a 1447b. 60 days for the govt to reply was this week.
They actually responded. They are asking the judge to dismiss the case.
Their argument is the USCIS is the only agency with jurisdiction over this case. It is a long response, but I am giving what I got out of it.

Can anyone tell me, if this case is lost?
The scenario I expected and read on this board was they usually process your oath so you dont go to court. It seems in my case they actually took the time to fight it. My lawyer said he will respond to their response.
BUt I am concerned since his view was they would settle and not fight it.
Has there been a shift in their strategy??

Any thoughts on this will be appreciated.
 
paz1960 said:
First of all, please look up what Local Rule 3.05 is about. The Local Rules are most likely posted on the court's web page. Post this rule and we can try to help you.
Click to expand...
Here it comes:

Middle District of Florida


IN BRIEF

Process summary

Arbitration. The Middle District of Florida is one of ten districts authorized by 28 U.S.C. §§ 651-658 to provide mandatory, nonbinding court-annexed arbitration in cases involving monetary claims only of $150,000 or less. See below.

Mediation. Under the district's mediation program, established in 1989, most civil cases are eligible for mandatory referral at the discretion of the assigned judge. See below.

The court's general policy is that cases will not be referred to more than one form of ADR. On occasion, however, referral to both arbitration and mediation is ordered by the assigned judge sua sponte or at the request of the parties.

Judicial settlement conferences. Local Rule 3.05 mandates preliminary pretrial conferences in trial-track cases and permits scheduling of preliminary pretrial conferences in other cases. Settlement possibilities are discussed at these conferences.
 
Saarlaender said:
Here it comes:

Middle District of Florida


IN BRIEF

Process summary

Arbitration. The Middle District of Florida is one of ten districts authorized by 28 U.S.C. §§ 651-658 to provide mandatory, nonbinding court-annexed arbitration in cases involving monetary claims only of $150,000 or less. See below.

Mediation. Under the district's mediation program, established in 1989, most civil cases are eligible for mandatory referral at the discretion of the assigned judge. See below.

The court's general policy is that cases will not be referred to more than one form of ADR. On occasion, however, referral to both arbitration and mediation is ordered by the assigned judge sua sponte or at the request of the parties.

Judicial settlement conferences. Local Rule 3.05 mandates preliminary pretrial conferences in trial-track cases and permits scheduling of preliminary pretrial conferences in other cases. Settlement possibilities are discussed at these conferences.
Click to expand...
In many districts some form similar to the one you received, is common practice. The meaning of these pre-trial conferences is to facilitate some sort of settlement of the case before actually reaches the trial phase.

According to the instruction, you need to send this form to the defendants. But because all defendants have one common counsel, the Assistant US Attorney assigned to the case, I think that you have to send this paper only to him/her. (I'm not sure about this).
 
How about Writ of Mandamus?

paz1960 said:
As far as I know there is only one judge in Houston (S. D. Texas) who will not let even to begin such cases and immediately remands them to USCIS. I know several other cases, which were successful in that district court.

If you reside in that district, I'm afraid that you don't have an option. 1447(b) states clearly that you can file a complaint in the district court where you reside. There was a member of this forum with a different opinion (milena), she actually suggested an alternative, but because I don't agree with the suggestion, I'm not going to repost it here. You can do a search for her postings and decide yourself.
Click to expand...

I haven't had the interview yet. Only chance I am having is filing writ of mandamus. Is there any successful outcome that you are aware of with filing writ of mandamus in Houston TX.

Thank you for taking the time to answer all of these questions. Your help greatly appreciated.

PS I am going to read the messages posted by milena.
 
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