Opinion
Case No. 17 C 3470
05-11-2017
JOYCE EDWARDS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY, et al., Defendants.
Caution: The original source document for this order is unclear and no superior document is available at this time. Please be mindful that this order may have missing or inaccurate text." MEMORANDUM ORDER
Joyce Edwards ("Edwards"), characterizing herself as "Executor, CEO, Beneficiary, Natural Person In Propria Persona Sui Juris," has signed and filed a hand-printed document that she has entitled "Legal Notice of Removal" (the "Notice") to bring a state court action that she lists as 2016 L 050132 from the Circuit Court of Cook County to this federal district court. Because the so-called Notice occupies just two pages and is far easier to reproduce physically rather than for this Court to make an attempt to decipher just what Edwards' claimed basis for federal subject matter jurisdiction might be, that two-page filing is simply attached as Ex. 1 to this memorandum order.
Among its many other deficiencies, the Notice omits the case name of the state court lawsuit.
Even though nonlawyer Edwards is not authorized to appear and act on behalf of any other party, she has also listed Jvonne Foster as another "Beneficial Owner of Carrie Edwards Estate." Hence this memorandum order will speak only of Edwards as the removing party, but what is said here addresses the impropriety of removal as such.
As the preceding paragraph has indicated, nonlawyer Edwards has alleged nothing at all that would bring a state court case that she has identified only by number within the purview of 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a), the statute by which Congress has conferred removal jurisdiction on the federal district courts. In apparent recognition of that deficiency, Edwards has concluded her brief Notice by stating "Claimant Requests Time to Amend this Petition." Even apart from the irregularity of that approach to federal jurisdiction ("Maybe I can come up with something, because I know I haven't done so yet"), Edwards and her colleague Jvonne Foster are attempting to obtain a free ride by utilizing the Clerk's-Office-supplied form of In Forma Pauperis Application ("Application") to avoid payment of the normal filing fee.
All further references to Title 28's provisions will simply take the form "Section --," omitting the prefatory "28 U.S.C. §." --------
In brief, it is an understatement to say that "it appears that the district court lacks subject matter jurisdiction" (Section 1447(c)). Accordingly this Court will comply with that subsection's congressional mandate that "the case shall be remanded" (id.). It therefore orders (1) that the case be remanded to its place of origin in the Circuit Court of Cook County and (2) that a certified copy of the order of remand shall be mailed by the Clerk of this Court to the Clerk of the state court (id.) forthwith.
/s/_________
Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge Date: May 11, 2017
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