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

[radektg]

Get a life!

How long can one dwell on this?
I bet you're in IT (I am myself) and that'd explain a lot (e.g. symptoms of control freak).
A customer, an office, a glitch that can happen. All of a sudden we have a holy war and crusade.
I sent my paperwork mid November 2006, had interview today, March 1st - end of story.
I'm not going to provide detail like:
1. filled out form at 08:00 2. dropped it in the mail box @ 14:00. etc. etc.
I took with me only the what they asked for: green card, deposition record from court (had a DUI 11 years ago), nobody bother to ask about it, except for: "traffic ticket? Yes, traffic ticket"
I did not bring with me every parking ticket I paid in my life as some suggest we should do.
Stick to the instructions. If there's an unreasonable delay, contact your U.S. Representative or Senator.
Get on with you life.
I can understand that people waiting for the GC want to see a progress, they grasp for any indication of it (there's a huge backlog) But with N-400? This should be a smooth ride and don't try to make a bigger deal out of it than it is.

 

[yvesliu]

4 months seems to be quite a long time. I thought AUSA usually do 30 days extension. If AUSA has not done much in last 3 months, what would they do in another 4 months? Is there a chance to oppose this during your conference? Mingjing

At the beginning, the Judge said it was too long as well. After further talk into it, the Judge said I should hire a lawyer, the she granted the 4 months. She said it will give enough time for my new "lawyer" get familiar with the case and she also said at the end that if my new "lawyer" feels ok, we can reschedule another conference and the time could be shortened

 

[Mingjing]

To Yvesliu

Yvesliu, I read your posting again about your teleconference with judge/AUSA. The judge seemed to have hinted a few times that there are opportunities you can turn the situation more favorable to you (filing more formal paper work, your lawyer may request reduction of discovery phase etc.). Maybe your AUSA is very skillful... This might sound a good idea to hire a lawyer...

 

[yvesliu]

Yvesliu, I read your posting again about your teleconference with judge/AUSA. The judge seemed to have hinted a few times that there are opportunities you can turn the situation more favorable to you (filing more formal paper work, your lawyer may request reduction of discovery phase etc.). Maybe your AUSA is very skillful... This might sound a good idea to hire a lawyer...

I guess that is my only option now.

 

[lotechguy]

My buddy needs HELP...his case is set for a hearing on 3/19 in Central CA DC This is what is showing in PACER

NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction, or in the alternative, MOTION to Remand Case to US Citizenship and Immigration Services filed by defendants Jane Arellano, Robert Muller, Alberto R Gonzales, Michael Chertoff, Emilio T Gonzalez. Memorandum of points and authorities; declarations of Jordan M Rund and Michael A Cannon. Motion set for hearing on 3/19/2007 at 10:00 AM before Judge Virginia A. Phillips. (mrgo, )

Has he filed a counter motion or opposition to motion to dismiss ? He should do this immidiately. Check in this forum for some posted

 

[shvili]

More appropriate would be to name FBI also as a defendant and ask in the Prayer to compel USCIS to expedite the name check with FBI, to compel FBI to finish the name check in XX days and after that to compel USCIS to adjudicate the petition in YY days.

In addition here are a few comments to the individual cases:

In Chaudry, Plaintiff made several mistakes.

1. He didn't mention in his original complaint 5 U.S.C. 555(b) as a basis for jurisdiction and the court was reluctant to re-write the complaitn to create proper subject matter jurisdiction. A complaint must specifically identify the basis for subject matter jurisdiction
2. The judge considered that 17 months waiting can not be considered unreasonable.
3. Plaintiff showed lack of knowledge of immigration law when he listed 1447(b) as a basis for jurisdiction. This statue has nothing to do with AOS petitions, it is clearly about stalled N-400 aplications.
4. The judge dismissed the case without prejudice, hinting that Plaintiff's claims if properly pled, may have merit if the FBI and USCIS persist in delaying adjudication.

With other words, the judge just conveyed to the Plaintiff that Pro Se is not an excuse to be not well prepared.

In Attias Plaintiff didn't bother to oppose defendants' motion to dismiss.

My 2 cents worth:

In one of them the judge said:
But if there were a TIME PERIOD for adjudication SPECIFIED (-capitalization added) in the the governing statues.., and that time period has been exceeded, this Court could order the agency to complete the adjudication" (p. 7, San Antonio Case)
This in fact is a great precedent to be used by 1447(b) filers as the judge clearly accepts jurisdiction for specified delays, and like Paz said, if we include FBI as a defendant, they are responsible to comply with the ordering agency (CIS) timeline too, so CIS can't simply say, "it's out of our hands and no time limit implies". They're the ones who ordered NC, so they (together with their contractor-FBI) bear responsibility to follow the rules and complete within 120 days.

Also-we might argue that delay is unreasonable as long as FBI can not provide any list of steps completed in your name check process. If the average time for nc is 2 weeks (for ex.) and it's been two-three years, they owe explanation on their actions and must show you why it takes so long. Again, it might not work in WOM cases as it is a discretion of Attorney Genreal to adjudicate AOS (but someone successfully argued against it-who??) and discretion of court to review the WOM complaint.

For 1447 filers, as I understand, it is no longer discretion of Att Gen. to adjudicate and courts have clear jurisdiction (especially in the 9th circuit!). Another argument for 1447-they already completed our NC when we applied for 1447b, and if since then your file is clean of any offences, your new NC should take LESS, not MORE time.

 

[missingpa]

What to do if the court clerk does not take any questions?

Does anyone have any experience of what to do if the court clerk does not take any questions? I filed my WOM case to the federal court of the central district of california on 1/26/2007 and yesterday when I logged into PACER to check on my account I saw the following:

NOTICE OF DOCUMENT DISCREPANCIES AND ORDER by Judge XXX ORDERING proof of service of summons and complaint submitted by Plaintiffs YYY, ZZZ received on 2/23/07 to be filed and processed; filed date to be the date the document was stamped Received but not Filed with the Clerk.(bp, ) (Entered: 02/28/2007)​

Does this mean there is something wrong with the proof of service that I filed back to the court after [I thought] it was fulfilled correctly. The problem is after I filed the original complaint on 1/26, the court clerk told me that the civil intake unit has a phone line that is directly connected to an answering machine and they are not calling people back to answer their trivial questions such as how to serve the defendants and how to fill out the proof of serve form (CV-1). A few questions about the proper procedures did arise when I was trying to do it on my own and I had to rely on my best guesses. My fear is that it was not done correctly and thus the PACER message. Is the federal court in LA the only one that is doing this to pro se people or this is happening elsewhere?

Any advice will be highly appreciated!

 

[Hiram]

Sfdurrani

Brother Sfdurrani
alhamdulillah
Congrats for you and your family !!!!!

Please let us know when you receive the actual cards in the mail !

 

[DUDE12190]

please reply!

From what I can tell, WOMs are becoming more and more difficult to win. USCIS also refuses to schedule any citizenship interviews until FBI name check is cleared. That way, no one can file 1447(b) suit any more and everyone has to go with a WOM. Since WOMs are a lot harder to win for the plaintiffs, USCIS can relax.

For those who are eligible for 1447(b) suits, the other tactic USCIS uses is to publish new regulations to change 1447(b). The public can comment on these new regulations until April 2007. Once/if 1447(b) gets changed, then no more lawsuits against CIS.

Where did you get this info taht they are gonna change the 1447b, please share. Tahnk you and good luck to you and to all of us.

 

[shvili]

the tortureing is going on...... got email from ausa today


regret to inform you that the agency's current position is that the goverment should seek to have your case dismissed if we do not have a clear timeframe for when adjudication of your application would be completed. ............


i will start prepare opposition to the motion to dismiss this weekend. That's only time i can use. work is stressful, family is depressed, 40 months NC, 4 ead, i bent my backwards to wait the approval.......


anyone has good draft, i really appreciate, 485 case, family based. please send message or email me. thanks

I'm attaching files previously posted by other members, which in my opinion have some good points for WOM.

Hope the attachments post.

Shvili

 

[sfdurrani]

Thanks guys!

Hi Moon_g, Mercury 369, Wenlock,Pankajkandhari, 786riz, yveslieu , Hiram and all
Thanks a lot for your encouragement. This forum is a great help for anyone planning to file pro se. Also law suit is still the way to go. If a case is to approve on its own it would do during the usual posted time frame on USCIS website after an application is filled. It it gets beyond that point it is probably gathering dust in some corner at USCIS or FBI. I know personally of friends who have been waiting more than five years after filing their N-400. If one does not fight for himself no one else would do that for him. The congressional or senator intervention only gives an "update" on the case and is not effective in my opinion in pushing forward one's case. Most of us have got the generic letters from FBI through senators office stating that they are still researching our names for last more than two years! The real deal still is the law suit.

 

[sfdurrani]

NOTICE OF DOCUMENT DISCREPANCIES AND ORDER by Judge XXX ORDERING proof of service of summons and complaint submitted by Plaintiffs YYY, ZZZ received on 2/23/07 to be filed and processed; filed date to be the date the document was stamped Received but not Filed with the Clerk.(bp, ) (Entered: 02/28/2007)​

Your proof of service should have been docketed into PACER by now. If you dont see that document and still have these return receipts or print outs form (USPS) whichever is acceptable at your local court, you can resubmit the proof of service document. Just follow the pattern mentioned on this forum. It should not be a big deal. Your time would still start when your AUSA was served, even if you file again.

 

[ipoh]

Congratulations !

Thanks to Almighty Allah!

Let me share this good news with this forum members from whom I have learnt a lot! Today I received the CIS e-mails three each for me and my wife. Message states approval of I-485 and approval notice being sent to my address on 3/1/2007. I filed my I-485 in Oct 4,2004 and name check was initiated on Oct 9,2004 (according to the FBI response to senator). It had been pending since then due to name check. I tried everything including FOIPA, e-mails to FBI (which never yielded any response), two senators from state of New Mexico, congressman, numerous calls to USCIS, First Lady (no response), Obundsman.I kept on waiting and waiting and thought it would happen on its own. Then Allah guided me to this forum. Surprisingly I ahd been visiting this forum since early 2006 but did not know about this thread. After receiving the generic letter from FBI (through senator) on 10/28/2006 which basically told me to wait indefenitely, I decided to go ahead with WOM which I filed on 11/22/2006. Members like Gegomon, Mercury 369 , lexis, and specifically PAZ 1960 (who has been a torch bearer on this forum and has spared a lot of his precious time for this forum) helped a lot. The AUSA was served on 11/29/2006 and responded on 1/29/07 with an answer. I am currently at the stage of JSR (joint status report) which is to be filed elctronically tomorrow. My pretrial hearing is set on 3/12/07.
I contacted my AUSA yesterday (as I have done repeatedly since filing WOM) to check the status of my name check from CIS. His response was that there is no update. I am amazed at how much darkness these AUSAs are kept in by CIS. My name check must have cleared at least few weeks before the final I-485. But the AUSA response has been the same-no update, althouh he did mention that new expedited request was sent on 12/20/2006 (which is like 30days after I filed WOM).I have not shared this information with my AUSA. I plan not to dismiss my case till I have the cards or passport stamped.
Does any one know what is the step or time period after I-485 approval and actual green cards? I would be more than happy to answer any questions about my case.
Thanks again. Best of luck to everyone.

Congratulations , thanks for sharing your experience. Served summons on Jan 12th. Don't know a thing of whats happening. Saw LUD change on my EAD on Feb 10. Nothing after that.
Judge set last day for filing summons Apr 1, Pretial Apr 16, trial Apr 26.
Will keep you posted.
No news from AUSA or my attorney. Hope they are expediting my name check even though its post Dec 21 memo.

 

[786riz]

NOTICE OF DOCUMENT DISCREPANCIES AND ORDER by Judge XXX ORDERING proof of service of summons and complaint submitted by Plaintiffs YYY, ZZZ received on 2/23/07 to be filed and processed; filed date to be the date the document was stamped Received but not Filed with the Clerk.(bp, ) (Entered: 02/28/2007)​

Hello missingpa,
My understanding is that the judge is telling the clerk that in docket, the file date must be the date when the summons was delivered to the defendants not the date when clerk received from the plaintiff as proof of service.
Thank you

 

[missingpa]

sfdurrani and 786riz,

Thanks for your reply. I guess what raised my concerns is the term "document discrepancies." I looked up similar cases in my court on PACER and usually if the court accepted the proof of service, the docket report should say "Proof of service upon XYZ executed on ..." My docket report doesnt not have an item like that. Oh, well. I will wait for a response from the court in the mail indicating what went wrong. They should still notify the plaintiffs in writing even if they dont return phone calls, shouldnt they?

Hello missingpa,
My understanding is that the judge is telling the clerk that in docket, the file date must be the date when the summons was delivered to the defendants not the date when clerk received from the plaintiff as proof of service.
Thank you

 

[sfdurrani]

Congratulations , thanks for sharing your experience. Served summons on Jan 12th. Don't know a thing of whats happening. Saw LUD change on my EAD on Feb 10. Nothing after that.
Judge set last day for filing summons Apr 1, Pretial Apr 16, trial Apr 26.
Will keep you posted.
No news from AUSA or my attorney. Hope they are expediting my name check even though its post Dec 21 memo.

Have you had any chance to get in touch with your AUSA? Call him and develop a working relationship with him. Find out who is assigned to your case. All you need is first and last name. A good trick that I learnt early on from PACER was that their e-mail address follow a specific pattern and are simple to guess like "john.doe@usdoj.gov". Drop him an e-mail every week and ask for an update. Also search your district court on PACER and find out what they usually file "Answer" or "motion". Answer does not need a response but motion must be responded to in specific time period. Most AUSA file generic motion to dismiss (as they dont have much time I think from all these cases to write individual responses). If it is a motion to dismiss in your district, have a generic response ready to file.

 

[nifty97]

anyone know where to find respond to contest dismissal of 1447 (b)

i file a law suit on 1447 (b), the USAA urgued that court do not have jurisdiction over the my complain. and asked the court to dissmiss the case or remand the case by tu CIS. for determination.

anyone know how to respond to court and ask court not to dissmis the my case, do you know where to find a sample and exhibits. i have deadline my March 15, 2007 i have to respond or the court will throw my case away, please i need help anyone who can help. me. i would appreciate

 

[sfdurrani]

Response to MTD

i file a law suit on 1447 (b), the USAA urgued that court do not have jurisdiction over the my complain. and asked the court to dissmiss the case or remand the case by tu CIS. for determination.

anyone know how to respond to court and ask court not to dissmis the my case, do you know where to find a sample and exhibits. i have deadline my March 15, 2007 i have to respond or the court will throw my case away, please i need help anyone who can help. me. i would appreciate

I think you need not panic. But at the same time you need to work a bit harder. Probably you are new to this forum. You need to read at least the last300 pages of this forum. Use the search icon at the top and search for response to motion to dismiss. Also have membership in PACER. After sorting through my zip drive I could come up with these nine cases that might be helpful. You need to read those and use the arguments according to your situation. Cut and paste would not work. Probably the best one is by PAZ. Just spend some time and you will come up with point to point response to your AUSA motion to dismiss.

 

[sfdurrani]

Response to Motion to Dismiss #2

i file a law suit on 1447 (b), the USAA urgued that court do not have jurisdiction over the my complain. and asked the court to dissmiss the case or remand the case by tu CIS. for determination.

anyone know how to respond to court and ask court not to dissmis the my case, do you know where to find a sample and exhibits. i have deadline my March 15, 2007 i have to respond or the court will throw my case away, please i need help anyone who can help. me. i would appreciate

Follwing are the other examples of response to motion to dismiss.

 

[pankajkandhari]

I just finished my teleconf call with the Judge and AUSA. The Judge is very nice since I am pro se. AUSA said she wanted to extend the discovery period another 4 months, which ends end of July. And she wanted to do a deposition on me. The Judge said another 4 months of discovery is not necessary since in the past three months they did not do anything. But she granted the extension at the end and she highly recommend me to hire a lawyer. She said the four months will be enough time for me to find a lawyer to represent me and from now on, all the documents submitted to the court should be very formal, it will be very hard to do by myself. And if my "lawyer" wants, we can schedule another teleconf to shorten the discovery period.

At the end, the judge asked me if I have any other questions, since the only thing we talked about are the schedule, I said I don't have anything else.

A side note, this AUSA called me just before the conf, she said CIS did expedite my name check back in Nov.

What should I do? Should I hire a lawyer? I don't have much confidence anymore.

Even though 4 months is a long time, I think the bright side of it is your name check has been expedited.. Now I am not sure how much to believe AUSA but if she is telling the truth then its a good sign.

I think everyone else is right in saying that WOM is getting harder and harder and esp for people in I-485. I am waiting for 6 months but by the time I will be ready to file (may be another 8-9 months later) WOM will be extremely tough. I feel all the doors are getting shut except for paying huge amounts of money to lawyers, who won't be able to guarantee any results.

But I hope you come out of this mess sooner.