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

MA 1447(b)

Anyone is going to file 1447(b) suit in Massachusetts? I am almost ready. PM if you are going to and willing to discuss
 
I need your encouragement

wenlock said:
I have little encourgement for you. I searched in Fourth District Court from Jan this year to Oct 31st and searched for all 890 cases. All but only one case got closed with in 90 - 100 days. I am sure not single one got through trial. Only once case is pending since Feb because Petitioner had 5 convictions against him but guess what just yesterday he got scheduled for Oath cermony. His trial date was Nov 26th.

I am sure if People can get away with that I am sure you are not in bad situation considering no convictions.

Strange thing is that just in last 60 days Fifty percent of cases got filed. I sure pretty soon USCIS will start going to hit hard with Cases and I am sure they will look for some alternate way to delay people.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reaserch, Wenlock. I feel much better now. As long as I know I still have hope I want to fight with those jerks. I think I am going to prepare some Response to the "Answer of Complaints", even though I don't know how to call it, I have a feeling that I need to response. I wonder if I found some successful cases in other states' courts, can I use it in my response? I am afraid I will get a challenge from our local court saying the rules are different each state.
 
paz1960 said:
jzdc, you are not screwed at all. Your complaint is not decided by AUSA, so she couldn't turn down your case. The complaint is decided by the judge. Your words agains their words. If you prepare well an Opposition to the motion to dismiss, you have a fair chance. At this moment everybody is just buying time. Because the defendants (in this case the AUSA, who represents them) had to answer your complaint or to enter a motion before the statutory 60 days deadline expired, and the FBI didn't complete your name check, AUSA filed this motion based on rather standard arguments, which were successfully defeated in many courts.

Of course, you will need to do your homework. Nobody is expert on this forum, so don't worry that you are not one. But people learn, there is enough useful material posted in this forum to become an almost-expert if you read patiently. If you decided to file Pro Se, you really need to do an extra effort and fight this till the end. Don't take it personal, this is not happening only to you, you are not unlucky, you found at least this forum, a good resource for all the necessary info. I wish I had find this place earlier; I would not wait for 2 years+ to file this complaint. Is it scary (sueing the Government)? Sure it is. But you are right, the law is on your side, now you have to convince the judge that you are right indeed.

Check your local court rules, how much time you have to file a response to the AUSA's motion. In my court, here is the relevant rule:

"Definition - Dispositive motions are motions for injunctive relief, for judgment on the pleadings, for summary judgment, to dismiss or to permit maintenance of a class action, to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, to involuntarily dismiss an action, and other dispositive motions as defined by law. Motions for dismissal as a sanction pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 16 or 37 shall be subject to the briefing schedule for nondispositive motions.
(b) Length of briefs - Any brief filed in support of or in opposition to a dispositive motion shall not exceed twenty-five (25) pages in length, exclusive of cover sheet, tables, and indices.
(c) Briefing schedule - Any party opposing a dispositive motion shall, within twenty-eight (28) days after service of the motion, file a responsive brief and any supporting materials. The moving party may, within fourteen (14) days after service of the response, file a reply brief not exceeding ten (10) pages. The Court may permit or require further briefing."

If you are not done with your Opposition, you may ask an extension from the judge in a motion, but make sure that this motion is filed with the court before the deadline to file your Opposition to the AUSA's motion.

I believe that here is a matter of time, because the AUSA stated that she requested FBI to expedite your name check. You have approximately one month (check your local rules!) to answer, or you can ask 30 more days, so easily almost two months (if the judge grants you the 30 day extension; very likely), probably enough time to finish your name check if it was indeed expedited.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Paz1960.

YOu are right that I am very lucky to find this site, and people on this site are exteremly nice and helpful. Your reply is very informative. I have just checked the local rules here. I have 30 days to response. I have no clue how I should do it though. In the "Answer of Complaints" mostly AUSA just admited or denied my complaints. It would sound pretty funny or childish if I do the same back saying "no, your denies are wrong". I was hoping to get some sample to templet to start with. All I got that I might be use is the one Wenlock attached in the reply to my post, that's why I mentioned I'm not an expert. I'm good to adapt my information to a templet, if I start from scratch with all those legal terms to argue with someone who write this kind of thing for living, I don't see too much hope. But I think I do need to do more reading and study. I think you gave me a good suggestion to ask more time from the court if I need more time.
 
notsure01 said:
This is really an encouraging story -- got everything done within 120 days.

maryvams, could you tell us the address you use to send the letter to First Lady? And is that possible to post the main part of the letter also?

Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...


FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

With Priority Mail delivery confirmation....$4.40.

This is the address I used. Got it from the threads here on this site. The letter was just an informal letter as you would write and explaining your case. Give details about the case and that you are stuck up in the Name Check. Then the A#, Naturalization Case Number, your address, Phone numbers if needed, email address (not really needed).....

All the best. Work Exhaustively and always be ready to file a lawsuit if need be. Believe me with so much templates all you have do is put your name and case details and you will be on your way to clearnace.
 
Has anyone filed a second lawsuit

Friends,

As already discussed on this board things are not as good in Houston as in some other centers.

There is at least one judge in the Houston court :mad: who is rejecting all the N-400 lawsuits without any reason or argument. Even my appeal which had supporting documents from ACLU was rejected. There are around 6 of us who had our cases rejected by the same judge.

A friend suggested filing a second lawsuit in Washington DC.

Has anyone heard of this approach and has anyone been successful filing in DC

Thanks for your help.
 
JZ:

First of all, if you want to fight with them, fight like a man! Do not let them scare you. More importantly, do not let you scare yourself! Do not be such chicken as whining "I can't do it, I am not expert". If you are really worried, maybe get an attorney. If you want to do it yourself, like me, then you need to strong and stand tough. Law is on your side, and judges most of the time are sympathetic to the bureaucracy victims. You will have to do your homework though. After all, this case is about you and your future, and you have to fight for yourself.

As to your question, yes, you can cite cases in other courts because this is federal court and you sued under federal law which is same in all of US. The judge is under no obligation to follow other court's ruling. Heck, he do not have to follow precedent from his own court (only the supreme court and the appeal court of your district which is 9th appeal court in San Frans), but normally he will give some weight to rulings from other courts. Try to use pacer to find similar cases where people filed their response to answer from AUSA. Most of the time you can take their words and make some changes to fit your case.

Good luck.

jzdc said:
Thank you for your reaserch, Wenlock. I feel much better now. As long as I know I still have hope I want to fight with those jerks. I think I am going to prepare some Response to the "Answer of Complaints", even though I don't know how to call it, I have a feeling that I need to response. I wonder if I found some successful cases in other states' courts, can I use it in my response? I am afraid I will get a challenge from our local court saying the rules are different each state.
Click to expand...
 
sakun said:
Friends,

As already discussed on this board things are not as good in Houston as in some other centers.

There is at least one judge in the Houston court :mad: who is rejecting all the N-400 lawsuits without any reason or argument. Even my appeal which had supporting documents from ACLU was rejected. There are around 6 of us who had our cases rejected by the same judge.

A friend suggested filing a second lawsuit in Washington DC.

Has anyone heard of this approach and has anyone been successful filing in DC

Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

Hello Sakun,
I think that you can not file a complaint based on 1447(b) in Washington, unless you reside in their district. The 1447(b) does not give you options to file either in the court where you reside or in the district where the defendants reside. It says clearly:

"If there is a failure to make a determination under section 1446 of this title before the end of the 120-day period after the date on which the examination is conducted under such section, the applicant may apply to the United States district court for the district in which the applicant resides for a hearing on the matter."

I was thinking about you and the other five unfortunate people who got the same judge and had your complaints thrown out without any hearing or examination. I think that the material I posted on the previous page really should help you. The Government in an identical case in Minnesota (Mohamed v. Frazier) admitted first time that the district court has jurisdiction over cases where the interview happened more than 120 days. Although the district court is different (yours in S. Texas, the case mentioned is Minnesota) but the cases are identical and the defendants are identical: the Government (USCIS and FBI). Now maybe one judge does not have to follow the other court's decision (unless is the appelate court where that district court belongs or the Supreme Court), but this admission from the defendants can not be valid only in Minnesota. It should be valid everywhere. I will look tomorrow at that paragraph which states that the immigration benefits have to be administered everywhere in the US uniformly, based on the same standards.

I still don't know what would be the proper action. Maybe that case with the government admission can be sent to this judge or to the Chief District Judge with an explanation. If none of these works, you should not hesitate to file an appelate in the Circuit Court. But check the deadline; there is some time limit, how long after the district court decision can you file an appeal in the Circuit Court.
 
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check this out

JZ:

I was following your case status because I mostly just copied your complaint :)

2:06-cv-00959-RSM Fu v. Chertoff et al

AUSA filed almost the same answer to her case, and 10 days later her case was approved (before plaintiff even filed anything back). I think this is just a standard trick for AUSA to buy some time (as other people said here).

4 Filed & Entered: 09/21/2006
Answer to Complaint
5 Filed & Entered: 09/27/2006
RSM - Joint Status Report Order
6 Filed & Entered: 10/06/2006
Stipulation

Here is another case which plaintiff recently filed "objections":
2:06-cv-01306-JLR Tyomkina v. Gonzales et al
jzdc said:
Thanks, Paz1960.

YOu are right that I am very lucky to find this site, and people on this site are exteremly nice and helpful. Your reply is very informative. I have just checked the local rules here. I have 30 days to response. I have no clue how I should do it though. In the "Answer of Complaints" mostly AUSA just admited or denied my complaints. It would sound pretty funny or childish if I do the same back saying "no, your denies are wrong". I was hoping to get some sample to templet to start with. All I got that I might be use is the one Wenlock attached in the reply to my post, that's why I mentioned I'm not an expert. I'm good to adapt my information to a templet, if I start from scratch with all those legal terms to argue with someone who write this kind of thing for living, I don't see too much hope. But I think I do need to do more reading and study. I think you gave me a good suggestion to ask more time from the court if I need more time.
Click to expand...
 
Certificate of Service

junhuaw asked me in a PM to send him a model of Certificate of Service. It is not possible to attach anything to the Private Messages on this forum (or at least I didn't figure it out yet how to do it) and maybe somebody else also can use it, so I posted the file I used as a model (posted many pages ago).
 
lenscrafterslen said:
I filed a lawsuit for my 485 case two weeks ago and today i received a letter from the districut attorney titled "order scheduling intital pretrial conference".

I was wondering if anyone knows answers to the following question. Any inforamtion is greatly appreciated!

1. is this order just a formality? and is this "normal" to get this order? did this happen to anyone before? what happened next to your case?

2. i was asked to send a copy of this letter to all parties related. does that mean i need to mail a copy to all defendants plus the US general attorney? do i still need the return receipt when mailing these?

3. of course i would expect the defendants to get my namecheck cleared before the 60 day period (and before the scheduled date for the conference). but what if not? what happens next?

Many many thanks!
Click to expand...
Although I don't have personal experience with this, from what I read, this initial pretrial conference is part of the full process (in most cases they skip it, this greatly depends on the local rules and/or judge), so nothing bad or unusual.

If you were asked to send a copy to all defendants, do it. I thought that after the initial complaint and summonses were sent to all the defendants + US Attorney General + the local office of the US Attorney (don't mix these two), you are dealing from now on with the designated counsel of the defendants, who is the local US Attorney (in fact, one of his/her assistants= AUSA). And yes, if you send anything new to the defendants, you need to file with the court Certificate of service.

A good rule of thumb is that you should send a copy to AUSA of everything you file with the court. And you need to inform the court (filing Certificate of service) that you sent the materila to the counsel of the defendants.

Of course, everybody's hope is that the name check will be cleared before the whole lawsuit gets in a later phase. But in several cases this just didn't happen. So you need to be prepared for the next step: AUSA can file a simple response stating paragraph by paragraph what defendants admit and what they deny from your complaint. If there is no motion in this answer, you are not required to oppose it.

<<There is no such thing under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as a “Response to an Answer.” Even if you strongly disagree with the statements in the answer, there is no need to file a response. Under Rule 8(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, all statements in an answer are automatically denied by the other parties to the lawsuit.>>

(from the Central Calif. District Pro Se handbook)

In most of the cases when the defendants file an answer to your complaint, this contains also a motion (something which asks the court to do certain things, in this case most likely to dismiss your complaint). If there is a motion filed, you have to oppose it (in my court in 28 days). The whole process is well described in this Pro Se handbook. I strongly recommend to everybody to read it if you decided to file Pro Se. A lawsuit is more serious thing than just filing a complaint, copied from somewhere with your personal data adapted and after that hoping that the name check will be cleared in less than 60 days. You really need to do your homework.
 
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junhuaw,

Thank you for your reply. I am glad you could use my complaint in your case. I would love to have many people to use it to fight against those rotten people. Thanks for giving those 2 case numbers, I am going to have a look. I was just about to prepare my response. It is so hard for me to sit and study this with a 2-year-old keeping disturbing. I do most of the reading when he takes his naps.



junhuaw said:
JZ:

I was following your case status because I mostly just copied your complaint :)

2:06-cv-00959-RSM Fu v. Chertoff et al

AUSA filed almost the same answer to her case, and 10 days later her case was approved (before plaintiff even filed anything back). I think this is just a standard trick for AUSA to buy some time (as other people said here).

4 Filed & Entered: 09/21/2006
Answer to Complaint
5 Filed & Entered: 09/27/2006
RSM - Joint Status Report Order
6 Filed & Entered: 10/06/2006
Stipulation

Here is another case which plaintiff recently filed "objections":
2:06-cv-01306-JLR Tyomkina v. Gonzales et al
Click to expand...
 
Hi JZ,

It seems that all this Answer to Complaint in western district of washington only appeared recently in the last month. I haven't seen many responses examples from the plaintiff. Attached are 2 examples I found, both 1447 cases. As Paz said in a PM, use it with caution:

Paz1960 said:
The Tyomkina v. Gonzales is a 1447(b) lawsuit. jzdc an yours are WOM. Although these two types are rather similar, they are not identical. The legal basis is different, arguing should be done differently; the AUSA motion to dismiss or remand (these are the two standard things what they are asking in their response to the original complaint) has different reasons, so the answers also doesn't apply to a WOM case. Not always works to simply copy a case which looks similar to yours. You really ned to answer to the points raised in AUSA's motion.

So I would suggest to look on PACER WOM cases where AUSA filed a motion to dismiss and the Plaintiff filed an Opposition to that motion (preferably cases represented by an immigration lawyer). I'll keep looking and will post it on the forum, if I find something but you should understand that I have and will have more info about Petitions for hearing on naturalization based o 1447(b) (this is my case too).
Click to expand...

jzdc said:
junhuaw,

Thank you for your reply. I am glad you could use my complaint in your case. I would love to have many people to use it to fight against those rotten people. Thanks for giving those 2 case numbers, I am going to have a look. I was just about to prepare my response. It is so hard for me to sit and study this with a 2-year-old keeping disturbing. I do most of the reading when he takes his naps.
Click to expand...
 
Good to know this info..

paz1960 said:
I agree, the call for the second fingerprint is a really good sign. They usually schedule this after the name check is cleared, or at least this is what I saw on this forum in several occasions. You are almost there...

Did AUSA respont to your complaint? (motion for extension, simple answer or motion to dismiss or remand). We would appreciate any detail. Because you did this through a lawyer, any Opposition to the defendants motion would be valuable (being written by an expert, not by an amateur like me or the other members of this forum).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the inputs... It was very motivating to know that 2nd FP is a good sign. As for you question regarding the AUSA response...well since my case is being dealt by an attorney, I only follow up on PACER. I am not sure, how updated the PACER docs are, but as of now it goes only upto the part where an AUSA is assigned, but no transactions from thier part i.e Motion for extension or Dismiss.

Thanks again for the inputs. Best Regards.
 
District detour.

Sakun
The smartest thing to do is set up a new mailing (with a mail box rental, not a U.S. PO box) address for an district that is easier to pass your case and have all your immigration mail forward there and then reforward back to your home. Wait one month then make a address change with USCIS and file your lawsuit in the new district. By the way you may wish to also set up a phone
number with a cell phone in the new district which forward back to your present address to make it look official.

Hope this will help. There are many way to skin a cat.


sakun said:
Friends,

As already discussed on this board things are not as good in Houston as in some other centers.

There is at least one judge in the Houston court :mad: who is rejecting all the N-400 lawsuits without any reason or argument. Even my appeal which had supporting documents from ACLU was rejected. There are around 6 of us who had our cases rejected by the same judge.

A friend suggested filing a second lawsuit in Washington DC.

Has anyone heard of this approach and has anyone been successful filing in DC

Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
 
paz1960 said:
I agree, the call for the second fingerprint is a really good sign. They usually schedule this after the name check is cleared, or at least this is what I saw on this forum in several occasions. You are almost there...

Did AUSA respont to your complaint? (motion for extension, simple answer or motion to dismiss or remand). We would appreciate any detail. Because you did this through a lawyer, any Opposition to the defendants motion would be valuable (being written by an expert, not by an amateur like me or the other members of this forum).
Click to expand...

Sorry, I missed answering second part of your question. I will see if there was any responses from my lawyer, and try to get a soft copy.
 
milena said:
Sakun
The smartest thing to do is set up a new mailing (with a mail box rental, not a U.S. PO box) address for an district that is easier to pass your case and have all your immigration mail forward there and then reforward back to your home. Wait one month then make a address change with USCIS and file your lawsuit in the new district. By the way you may wish to also set up a phone
number with a cell phone in the new district which forward back to your present address to make it look official.

Hope this will help. There are many way to skin a cat.
Click to expand...

I would be really careful with this advise. If USCIS or the court finds out this trick, you will be in big trouble. In my opinion, you will not only jeopardize your lawsuit but also risk a denial of your N-400 application and possibly other criminal charges trying to deceive a federal court.

Your case is already recorded with the Office of the General Counsel at USCIS. If the same name&alien number showes up in an other lawsuit filed in a different district court, what do you think what will be the first instruction received by the new AUSA from the Office of General Counsel? Challenge Plaintiff's residency and ask for proof. You will be busted no time.

Or maybe I just imagine that the Office of General Counsel at USCIS is working so effectively that they track all these cases and check against the previously filed cases. Maybe it is unlikely, but I certainly wouldn't call the probability of this zero. But as it is stated at the beginning of this forum, use all the information (and I would add, advice) to your own risk. It's your call, it's your skin...
 
junhuaw,
Thanks for your reply. I have studied the to samples you attachted. I know they are not the same as my WOM case. But I have a clear picture now what to do. You are very helpful.
regards,
jz
 
Could ASUA work on my case before my "Certification of Service" back to court?

Hi! everyfriend here,
1. I came to our District Court in Chicago downtown last Friday. The court clerk told me that I have to wait for all Signed Green Card back then return the summons with Certification of Service to them. What should I do if I don't have all the Green Card back?

2. I drop by the US Atty office in the same building with the court. The clerk told me my case has been assigned to a lady, then I called her. She told me she will work on my case and contact with USCIS and FBI to solve the case out of court next week.
My questions is that Is it possible that ASUA begin to work on my case BEFORE my Certification of Service is sent back to the court?

Looking forward to your reply!
Thanking you!!
 
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