[net-gold] Pro se in Federal Courts on FOIA Related Cases, Help if You Want
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:21:51 -0400 (EDT)
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Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:27:45 -0400
From: Dwight Hines <dwight.hines@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Net-Gold] Pro se in Federal Courts on FOIA Related Cases,
Help if You Want
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Pro se in Federal Courts on FOIA Related Cases,
Help if You Want
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Dear Goldies:
.
There are still some backward communities
that treat FOI requests as a pain
and put up different types of blocks
to complying with state and federal
laws, it is becoming more and more
necessary to take court actions.
.
Attorneys are not affordable and the
local rules of federal rules of
court, plus unwritten and murky rules
make court a problem of great risk.
.
We need some good handbooks and guides
to going to federal courts without
an attorney.
.
First, we need to collect all the
handbooks or pamphlets or mimeographs on
how to be pro se that are written by
the courts themselves. Each federal
district will have one. I have the
guides of Idaho and Maine. Idaho is
excellent, Maine is weak. We can come
up with better. Once we establish
that we will go to court and will win,
much of the opposition will
decrease, even among those who don't
understand that empty stores,
inadequate health systems, and high
unemployment are symptoms that are best
treated with lots of sunlight.
.
So, I'm working on getting a case
into federal court in Maine. I made a
request to obtain the password to
use the electronic court filing (ECF)
system and was told by the case manager
in writing that non-prisoner pro se
must have a case before the court before
getting ECF. My letter of 3/23/12
in response is attached.
.
The case manager responded promptly
and I responded today, letter of
3/29/12 is below. Please note
there are some biases here in calling
a pro se person a "Non-Prisoner" pro se,
like there would be in calling a
person a non-rapist. Sets a bad tone.
But, that is best fought another
day. There is also a bias is requiring
pro se to file written paper based
docs before filing electronically.
Judges who are set up to read and
evaluate electronic material
efficiently are not going to look
kindly on those who interrupt the flow,
but I have no data on that. Note that
the end of the letter is all about how
to obtain low cost or free legal
representation.
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If you are interested in this project,
please contact me and email me a
copy of your local handbook for pro se
filers for fed court in your
district.
Dwight
.
Dwight E. Hines
IndyMedia
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March 29, 2012
U.S. Certified Mail
# 7011 0470 0000 4934 5179
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Robert Allen, Case Manager,
Office of the Clerk,
United States District Court,
District of Maine
156 Federal Street, Room 102
Portland, Maine 04101
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Dear Mr. Allen:
.
Thank you for your prompt reply to
my questions about requiring a
?non-prisoner? to be ?a party to a
civil action? before obtaining ECF
access. This is good clarification
but I do not agree with it because it
creates a two tiered system of access,
one for attorneys and one for
?non-prisoners?. I am not going to
challenge or appeal your interpretation
at this time, but I reserve the right
to appeal your interpretation and the
enforcement of your interpretation at
some later date, because I do not
have objective, empirical data that
will allow me to state, with confidence
intervals, if such labels or categories
yield unfair biases against
*pro se*individuals. Being termed a
?non-prisoner? creates, I believe
a definite
bias compared to *pro se* but, again,
I reserve the right to object to this
term at a later date. Yet, just think
how you would feel if I referred to
you as Mr. Allen, non-racist, no-agist
plaintiff. Intuitively, I?d argue
that the ?non? gets pretty much
smothered by the racist and agist labels,
but that is testable.
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I have several objectives in filing
a federal 42 USC ?1983, with the
secondary objectives preparing and
distributing a handbook or guide for
*pro se* individuals. I?ve spent
hundreds of hours in state and federal
courts observing, and sometimes writing
about, our justice system and my feeling
is that the Courts are under used for
resolving conflicts and maintaining
constitutional protections.
.
I have also spent hundreds of hours
reading court decisions, court rules,
and law review articles and believe
that we have an excellent system of
justice, but, again, there are enough
intermittent distortions that make me
believe the best way to improve the
system is for more people to be
involved in meaningful ways.
.
Tonight I will post my letters to
you on the State and National Freedom of
Information Act List and explain what
I?m doing and ask for help from
others in other states on preparing
a *pro se* handbook. I?ll let you
know what type of response I receive
and you are free, indeed, I encourage
you to join the list, to read and make
comments or corrections to what
others post.
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As it stands now, I am required to
file a formal complaint with summons and
other materials with the court and
then request a password to the ECF
system. It seems to me that a case
begins long before that, like when a
written complaint is sent to other
parties to give them a chance to resolve
issues prior to any filing in court.
Because you say that is not correct,
.
I will accept it for now.
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Finally, you mentioned retaining
an attorney during the course of action,
something I would love to do but,
like most pro se individuals, cannot
afford to do. Yet there may exist
alternatives that may be acceptable.
Does the Court or the Federal Bar
Association maintain a list of pro bono
attorneys who can be contacted to
take a case for a nominal fee, if they
think it is a viable case? Does the
Court or the Federal Bar Association
maintain a list of attorneys who will
provide unbundled services, thus
minimizing the cost of preparation
and litigation? Does the Court or the
Federal Bar Association maintain a
list of firms or organizations that
finance preparation and litigation
with payment not due until the case is
decided? Would you be able to provide
me with the contact information for
the Federal Bar to see what active
committees they have working on access
to justice issues for civil cases?
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I, and others look forward to your
responses.
.
Dwight Hines
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Copy:
database.sunshine;
FOIA-L;
foia (EU);
wobbers (Australia)
.
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