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

[finnay]

Good Outcome in Miami

I'd like to share a good story in Miami. My dad was stuck in BC hell since Oct last year. We followed up with countless letters to Senators, Congressman, Ombudsman, FBI Director, White House. Late May FBI responded to WH letter stating that BC is pending and the completion time is uncertain.

In May, our attorney filed a WOM lawsuit. Without any communications from US Attorney's office, his oath ceremony letter just arrived yesterday, a couple of weeks prior to plaintiff's response deadline in Federal Court.

Bottom line - continue fighting and you will win!!!

Pablo

 

[Mette]

This is the problem with attorneys. They are not motivated enough to get your case going as fast as possible. Either way, you shouldn't count the time from the dates on the return receipts. Normally, defendants are considered to be served on the day you mailed them your complaint, not on the day when they received it.

buggin, thank you!!

And congratulations!

 

[AL11]

Does any of you guys know of anybody who benifited from sending a letter of intent to the US attorney? it looks like everybody send it just to show an effort to resolve the delay before resorting to the courts, without really expecting any outcomes, is that the only purpose of this letter? does the US attorney ever interfere with the matter before it reaches the court?
My other question is: can I send the letter of intent, or even a friendlier letter to the US attorney before the 120 days end, and still show a good intent?? and then file for 1447 exactly on the 120th day?
Please advice.

Two People on this forum shared experiences with successful intent to sue letters. An immigratino attorney that I spoke to before I filed my case told me that in his experience it works about 30% of the time. I send one and it did do nothing for me, I think if you have to wait for your 120 days anyway, then you should send one and see if it works for you. Some people say that such letter may actually hurt you (USCIS may deny the case before it gets to court and don't have jurisdiction over the case anymore) but there is no evidence of that.
120 days is the law, so an intent to sue letter is not indication of bad intent. After all you are the one following the law and they are the ones breaking it.
If you send an intent to sue letter, then send a copy to all parties involved not only USCIS and US attorney like I did. and you should send a draft of your complaint as well, so they know you are serious.
Good luck

 

[curious100]

Dear Buggin,
I am in San Diego and I submitted my WOM last Friday with the court clerk but I did not get any Summons from her. I asked her when I will get the summons, she said "I don't know. It's up to the judge." in a cold and flat tone. I thought we just waited for the clerk to send the summons to us (I remeber you said that before). Over the weekend I checked online southern california district document and found that preparation of summons is plaintiff's responsibility. Does this mean I need to fill the summons form and get it stamped by the clerk? Can I put all defendants' name and address in one form, have the clerk stamp it and make copies to send to all the necessary parties that need to be served?
Xu111 is from San Diego also and I sent him a private message. But he might not be checking the website that frequently. I hope I can get some direction from you since you are so helpful and generous to answer all the questions on this board. Thanks again.

 

[xu111]

Your PM was replyed

check it out.

Dear Buggin,
I am in San Diego and I submitted my WOM last Friday with the court clerk but I did not get any Summons from her. I asked her when I will get the summons, she said "I don't know. It's up to the judge." in a cold and flat tone. I thought we just waited for the clerk to send the summons to us (I remeber you said that before). Over the weekend I checked online southern california district document and found that preparation of summons is plaintiff's responsibility. Does this mean I need to fill the summons form and get it stamped by the clerk? Can I put all defendants' name and address in one form, have the clerk stamp it and make copies to send to all the necessary parties that need to be served?
Xu111 is from San Diego also and I sent him a private message. But he might not be checking the website that frequently. I hope I can get some direction from you since you are so helpful and generous to answer all the questions on this board. Thanks again.

 

[buggin]

Dear Buggin,
I am in San Diego and I submitted my WOM last Friday with the court clerk but I did not get any Summons from her. I asked her when I will get the summons, she said "I don't know. It's up to the judge." in a cold and flat tone. I thought we just waited for the clerk to send the summons to us (I remeber you said that before). Over the weekend I checked online southern california district document and found that preparation of summons is plaintiff's responsibility. Does this mean I need to fill the summons form and get it stamped by the clerk? Can I put all defendants' name and address in one form, have the clerk stamp it and make copies to send to all the necessary parties that need to be served?
Xu111 is from San Diego also and I sent him a private message. But he might not be checking the website that frequently. I hope I can get some direction from you since you are so helpful and generous to answer all the questions on this board. Thanks again.

Usually, you get the summons in two ways:

1) You file your complaint, then wait for the court clerk to prepare the summons and mail it to you. After you receive the summons, you maike as many copies as you need and mail the summons together with a copy of the filed complaint and any other papers (given to you by the clerk, e.g., ADR information, schedule for the case conference, etc.) to all defendants and the US Atty.

2) This is what I did: I downloaded the summons form from my court's web site, filled it out. Attached a printed out list of all the defendants with their mailing addresses and brought it with me to court when I went their to file my peitition. The court clerk got the petition and summons stamped and gave them back to me. Right there, I made a copy of the summons and the petition and got my husband to seve them on the US Atty (whose office is in the same building with the court). Then I mailed copies of the summons, petition, and other court papers to all defendants via certified mail (signature not required).

You can choose to do it either way. The second option seems to work much faster than the first one.

 

[Einmalig]

Buggin,

First of all, congratulations on your Oath Ceremony! You are an inspiration to each and everyone who is still fighting for their cases in this forum.

I downloaded the complaint form from the website of the United States District Court for the Southern Florida District.

In the section where I am supposed to list (or name) the defendants, there are only 4 lines; therefore I would not be able to list all the defendants at once.

I called the Court Clerk twice. On one occasion, the clerk was not helpful at all. The second time, another Clerk told me that I had to write the name of only one defendant per complaint, but that left me with more doubts than I already had.

My understanding was that I filed only one complaint which listed the names of each and every defendant.

Or am I supposed to file several copies of the same complaint? They also told me that I have to use the form which I downloaded from their website. They said they won't accept a Microsoft copy where I list all the defendants by name and position in their respective agencies/departments...

Please, advise me on this, if you can, and thanks a million!

Einmalig

 

[buggin]

Buggin,

First of all, congratulations on your Oath Ceremony! You are an inspiration to each and everyone who is still fighting for their cases in this forum.

Einmaling, thank you very much.

I downloaded the complaint form from the website of the United States District Court for the Southern Florida District.

Do you actually mean the "complaint" form? If yes, then you are not on the right path. The civil complaint form is usually used for other kind of civil cases, e.g. contract cases, when somebody ows you something and is not repaying you the money, or if somebody damaged your car and you want them to pay for repairs. For the naturalization cases, there is no form. You have to wirte it yourself. It is called a drafted pleading. I am going to attach the one I prepared for my case.

In the section where I am supposed to list (or name) the defendants, there are only 4 lines; therefore I would not be able to list all the defendants at once.

Now, if you are talking about the summons form, you are right, the window for the names of the defendants is very small. What I did, was type in the name of the first defendant and add "et al." Then on a separate page (MS Word) typed up the names of all defendants and their mailing addresses. My court clerk told me to do it this way.

I called the Court Clerk twice. On one occasion, the clerk was not helpful at all. The second time, another Clerk told me that I had to write the name of only one defendant per complaint, but that left me with more doubts than I already had.

My understanding was that I filed only one complaint which listed the names of each and every defendant.

Correct. But the 1447(b) complaint is not a form. you have to write it out. See my sample petition.

Or am I supposed to file several copies of the same complaint? They also told me that I have to use the form which I downloaded from their website. They said they won't accept a Microsoft copy where I list all the defendants by name and position in their respective agencies/departments...

They are not right. You need to remember that you case is not a regular civil case, for which a complaint form is used. There are some kind of cases, for which they don't have forms, and ours is one of them.

However, if you are inquiring about the summons, then the clerk is right. You have to use the court form.

 

[curious100]

Another question regarding service

Buggin and xu111, thank you both for your quick response. I plan to drop off the summons to the US Attorney in person but I don't have a convenient third party to do that for me. Is it ok I do it myself? XU111, did you deliver yourself or you asked somebody else?

Usually, you get the summons in two ways:

1) You file your complaint, then wait for the court clerk to prepare the summons and mail it to you. After you receive the summons, you maike as many copies as you need and mail the summons together with a copy of the filed complaint and any other papers (given to you by the clerk, e.g., ADR information, schedule for the case conference, etc.) to all defendants and the US Atty.

2) This is what I did: I downloaded the summons form from my court's web site, filled it out. Attached a printed out list of all the defendants with their mailing addresses and brought it with me to court when I went their to file my peitition. The court clerk got the petition and summons stamped and gave them back to me. Right there, I made a copy of the summons and the petition and got my husband to seve them on the US Atty (whose office is in the same building with the court). Then I mailed copies of the summons, petition, and other court papers to all defendants via certified mail (signature not required).

You can choose to do it either way. The second option seems to work much faster than the first one.

 

[Gr33nCard]

What is needed for WOM.

I have filed WOM on July 7th. I attached the letters from Senator and Congressman with the complaint. I mentioned about the Calls i made to USCIS and Infopass appointment (although i didnt had any printout of infopass).

As i read more of this thread i came to know about ombudsman and FOIA request. Do i make these requests now....Although one of the congresssman email said my request is "Pending" in name check. Do you think FOIA is needed or will be helpful....I just want to cover myself before the court date comes closer......

 

[Balto]

It's Finally Over!

First, let me say a heartfelt THANKS to Publicus and everyone in the forum from whom I gained so much help and moral support during this dreadful journey. At times I felt so down and it was you guys who cheered me up and kept me going with this fight, without this thread, without you all, I would still be waitng in the dark.

My oath ceremony was at 9am on 7/14/06 in Baltimore. Got there around 8:30am, then went to the 7th floor. Showed the oath letter with the questions on page 2 answered and checked by INS, turned in GC, double checked the info on the Certificate, took the oath and received the Certificate. I became a proud USC at 10am

For those who are in Maryland, you can bring guests to the ceremony. The room is quite big and can hold roughly 200 people. They are holding multiple oath ceremonies every day at different time slot. I knew there is one at 3pm, mine was 9am and Ralphy's at 11am.

Best wishes for all who are still fighting, and if I can be of any help, please drop me a line. Remember, knowledge is power, and we CAN and WILL win this fight!

Balto

 

[WaitingInDallas]

How nice!

How nice to read post like this. And Congratulations again!!

First, let me say a heartfelt THANKS to Publicus and everyone in the forum from whom I gained so much help and moral support during this dreadful journey. At times I felt so down and it was you guys who cheered me up and kept me going with this fight, without this thread, without you all, I would still be waitng in the dark.

My oath ceremony was at 9am on 7/14/06 in Baltimore. Got there around 8:30am, then went to the 7th floor. Showed the oath letter with the questions on page 2 answered and checked by INS, turned in GC, double checked the info on the Certificate, took the oath and received the Certificate. I became a proud USC at 10am

For those who are in Maryland, you can bring guests to the ceremony. The room is quite big and can hold roughly 200 people. They are holding multiple oath ceremonies every day at different time slot. I knew there is one at 3pm, mine was 9am and Ralphy's at 11am.

Best wishes for all who are still fighting, and if I can be of any help, please drop me a line. Remember, knowledge is power, and we CAN and WILL win this fight!

Balto

 

[Mr LA]

Does any of you guys know of anybody who benifited from sending a letter of intent to the US attorney? it looks like everybody send it just to show an effort to resolve the delay before resorting to the courts, without really expecting any outcomes, is that the only purpose of this letter? does the US attorney ever interfere with the matter before it reaches the court?
My other question is: can I send the letter of intent, or even a friendlier letter to the US attorney before the 120 days end, and still show a good intent?? and then file for 1447 exactly on the 120th day?
Please advice.

Hello Hayyyoot,

Ailf advisory was writing for lawyers who know the law, NOT for you or me who know nothing when it came to law issues. Of course when they speak to lawyers they speak different, they treat them like gods, NOT like the way they speak to us. So, I advice you not to do it, it’s just waist of time. When is 120 day’s is over go to court, DON’T waist 1 day. Don’t let them to know what is your next move is.

I wish you the best

Ps,
Guy’s please share your advice.

 

[buggin]

Buggin and xu111, thank you both for your quick response. I plan to drop off the summons to the US Attorney in person but I don't have a convenient third party to do that for me. Is it ok I do it myself? XU111, did you deliver yourself or you asked somebody else?

Curious100,

Under Rules of Federal Civil Procedure and local court rules, you should not serve papers yourself if you want to do it in person. You can do it yourself via mail.

However, a few people on this forum shared that they did serve on the US Atty in person and it was ok.

I don't think it should be a big deal.

 

[buggin]

Congrats, Balto!!!

First, let me say a heartfelt THANKS to Publicus and everyone in the forum from whom I gained so much help and moral support during this dreadful journey. At times I felt so down and it was you guys who cheered me up and kept me going with this fight, without this thread, without you all, I would still be waitng in the dark.

My oath ceremony was at 9am on 7/14/06 in Baltimore. Got there around 8:30am, then went to the 7th floor. Showed the oath letter with the questions on page 2 answered and checked by INS, turned in GC, double checked the info on the Certificate, took the oath and received the Certificate. I became a proud USC at 10am

For those who are in Maryland, you can bring guests to the ceremony. The room is quite big and can hold roughly 200 people. They are holding multiple oath ceremonies every day at different time slot. I knew there is one at 3pm, mine was 9am and Ralphy's at 11am.

Best wishes for all who are still fighting, and if I can be of any help, please drop me a line. Remember, knowledge is power, and we CAN and WILL win this fight!

Balto

 

[gzmbk1]

congratulations

First, let me say a heartfelt THANKS to Publicus and everyone in the forum from whom I gained so much help and moral support during this dreadful journey. At times I felt so down and it was you guys who cheered me up and kept me going with this fight, without this thread, without you all, I would still be waitng in the dark.

My oath ceremony was at 9am on 7/14/06 in Baltimore. Got there around 8:30am, then went to the 7th floor. Showed the oath letter with the questions on page 2 answered and checked by INS, turned in GC, double checked the info on the Certificate, took the oath and received the Certificate. I became a proud USC at 10am

For those who are in Maryland, you can bring guests to the ceremony. The room is quite big and can hold roughly 200 people. They are holding multiple oath ceremonies every day at different time slot. I knew there is one at 3pm, mine was 9am and Ralphy's at 11am.

Best wishes for all who are still fighting, and if I can be of any help, please drop me a line. Remember, knowledge is power, and we CAN and WILL win this fight!

Balto

 

[xvistik]

Hey Curious 100
Look up in your PM

 

[samson_33]

Filed WOM - acouple of questions

I filed WOM on 07/03. I have received USPS signed receipts from only 2 of my defendents. I read from the post that I can submit the online printout's.
1st of all the clerk made a mistake and gave me 2 copies of summons stamped for each defendent. I should have only got 1.
She asked me to return the 2nd copy.

Questions :

1. For sending the USPS delivery confirmation, I asked the cleark where I can find the certificate of Service.
She asked me to just send the receipts with a letter stating my case numbers.
so I will send the email confirmation of delivery from USPS. When I receive all original receipts, what is the process?
Do I just mail it to the court ONLY? PLease provide a copy of Certificate of Service.

2. The summons form was a 2 page form (return of Service 2nd page). Was I supposed to fill this up before sending it to defendents?
I did not. I was told by clerk to complete this form (return of service) when I send the receipts back to the court.
As I mentioned earlier, he gave me 2 copies of summons form for each defendent.
If I was supposed to fill the return of servicewhen I served the defendents, what do I do now? please advice.

3. It's been 2 weeks I filed WOM, is it time to check with the Attorney, as to who is assigned to my case?
What else do I need to check with them?
will that be the local attorney or US Attrorney (alberto's) office. Can I please have their number.

4. Any other action needed?

 

[buggin]

Questions :

1. For sending the USPS delivery confirmation, I asked the cleark where I can find the certificate of Service.

The Certificate of Service form is attached to your summons. When you mailed the summons to defendants, you did not need to send the Certificate of Service form, only the summons. If you don't have the Certificate of Service form, you can print the form out from your court's web site. Look for "forms", "Certificate of Service."

She asked me to just send the receipts with a letter stating my case numbers.

If you can't find the Certificate of Service form, you can just type a simple letter yourself. See a sample I attached to this post.

so I will send the email confirmation of delivery from USPS. When I receive all original receipts, what is the process?

Instead of using the email confirmation, go to the USPS web site and print out delivery confirmations for each package. You don't need to worry about the original receipts with the signatures, unless the court clerk will ask you to provide them. My court was fine just with the printouts.

Do I just mail it to the court ONLY? PLease provide a copy of Certificate of Service.

You need to mail the original summons, the Certificate of Service, and the delivery confirmation printouts to the court clerk only.

2. The summons form was a 2 page form (return of Service 2nd page). Was I supposed to fill this up before sending it to defendents? No, you don't send the Certificate of Service to defendants, only the summons.

I did not. I was told by clerk to complete this form (return of service) when I send the receipts back to the court. The clerk is right. This is exactly what you need to do.

As I mentioned earlier, he gave me 2 copies of summons form for each defendent.
If I was supposed to fill the return of service when I served the defendents, what do I do now? please advice. You didn't need to do it. So, don't sweat.

3. It's been 2 weeks I filed WOM, is it time to check with the Attorney, as to who is assigned to my case? You may try. It's not going to hurt.

What else do I need to check with them? Just ask for the status of your case.

will that be the local attorney or US Attrorney (alberto's) office. Can I please have their number. Did you serve the local US Atty office for your district? You need to contact the local US Atty Office, not Alberto Gonzales' office. Alberto Gonzales is the Attorney General of the US.

4. Any other action needed? Nope. You just wait now and talk to the US Atty.

 

[qim]

Congratulations, Balto, well deserved!

**************************************************
Interview:April 2005; 1447b:February 2006; Naturalized: May 2006