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How to file a pro se Complaint

In the federal District Courts Against Federal Agencies

Complaint Forms

1.    Forms you need to file a civil action against the federal agency (available on internet):

 ·      Form JS 44: Civil Cover Sheet (available online)

·      Form AO 440: Summons In a Civil Action (available online. This form must be signed and sealed by the Court Clerk). Summons Samples.

·      Complaint (to be drafted, signed and dated by Plaintiff).  Complaint Samples.

·      Certificate of Service (to be signed and dated by Plaintiff, certifying that the Complaint has been served to the federal District Court on the date specified. See samples indicated above—the last page of the Complaint). 

 2.    The above documents should be hand-delivered in 4 copies (3 to be served (see below) and 1 for your record).  Check with the District Court if filing by mail or online (electronic Case Filing, eCF) is allowed.  If by mail is allowed, mail via Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested.

3.    You will need to pay $402 in court fees in check or money order.

4.    It is important that the Complaint be date-stamped and has the Court Docket number and that the Summons (AO 440) be signed and sealed by the Court Clerk.

5. Once the Complaint is date-stamped and has the Court docket number, and the Summons is sealed and signed by the US District Court, you are ready to serve them to Defendant and Defendant’s attorney (i.e., US Attorney General and US Attorney in the District where the Court is located).

6. If you filed the Complaint via mail or online, the Court Clerk may upload the Summons (after the Clerk signs and seals it) on the Court’s eCF (electronic Case File) system. The Complaint you drafted and filed may also be uploaded onto the eCF. (If the Complaint and the Summons were uploaded onto the Court eCF system (online), you will see the docket number, submission date, document number in blue font at the top of each page. I call this the Court eCF stamp. It is better to serve the Complaint and the Summons showing the eCF stamps on top of each page rather than without the stamps.).

7. Get a PACER account (Public Access to Court Electronic Records at pacerUScourts.gov) with a small fee payment, so that you can look up your case or any other federal cases in the country and, more importantly, so that you can submit your motions or other pleadings via eCF online. Check with the Court Clerk on how to file pleadings via eCF. See below for more information on eCF and PACER account.

Service Summons and Complaint

1.    After you filed the Complaint at the US District Court in the district where the violations occurred, the following documents must be served within 90 days of filing Complaint (as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m)):

  • Form AO 440: Summons In a Civil Action (signed and sealed by the Court Clerk).  This may be handed back to you, if you filed in person.  Otherwise, it will be either mailed to you or uploaded in the Court’s eCF (electronic Case File) system. You can download from the Court’s eCF if you have a PACER account, for which you should register online to open an account with PACER.

  • Complaint (date stamped by the Court).

  • It is better to serve the above two forms that have the eCF stamps (blue font) on top of each page uploaded to the Court’s eCF.

 2.    The Summons and the Complaint must be served via Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested to the following 3 locations (pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(i)):

  • The federal Agency head/Secretary of the Department in DC.

  • US Attorney General in DC

  • US Attorney in the District where the Court is located and where the discriminatory actions occurred.

3. The service (i.e., mailing via US Certified Mail only) must be performed by an adult who is not a party to the case and who resides in the state where the District Court is located. That person will have to sign the Proof of Service (Persuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(c)(2)). See below for more on the Proof of Service.

Proofs of Service & eCF

I.               How to Prove Your Service:

 1.    After a week or so of your service but no later than 90 days from the date of filing the Complaint, you must prove that you properly served the Summons and the Complaint to the Defendant and to his or her US attorney.

2.    Fill out the Proof of Service form attached to Form AO 440 (the Sumwmons), identifying when you received the Summons signed and sealed by the Court Clerk, to whom the Summons and the Complaint were served (by someone other than Plaintiff), what documents were served (i.e., Complaint and the Summons), when, to what address, and by what means (i.e., via Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested). 

3. The Proof of Service must be signed and dated by someone who served the Complaint and the Summons—someone other than Plaintiff residing in the same State. 3 separate proof must be submitted for each separate destination of service: one for Defendant in DC, another for US Attorney General in DC, another for US District Attorney in the District. The proofs then must be submitted to the Court either by eCF or by Priority/Certified Mail. Better to wait to receive the green Return Receipt of your Certified Mail, if any, so that you can attached it with your Proof of Service. (Sometimes the agencies fail to sign the receipt when they receive a Certified Mail.) Even if you don’t receive the Return Receipt, you should still submit the Proof of Service by attaching the Postal Receipt of the payment you made to the Postal Office.

4.    As it is stated in the Summons, within 60 days of receipt of Complaint and the Summons, the federal Agency, the Defendant, is required to file a response to your Complaint.

  II.             How to Request Permission for eCF Filing:

1.    eCF stands for electronic Case File system. It works with PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records at pacerUScourts.gov).

2.    Once you are registered, you can look up any cases filed at the US Courts nationwide online. A small annual fee is required to open an PACER account.

3.    To be able to file your pleadings or responses to motions via online (eCF), you will need the Court’s permission to do so, even after registering with PACER.  You need to file a request for permission from the Court to be able to file your pleadings via eCF. The request may look something like this. Depending on how conservative your Court is, you may or may not be permitted to file pleadings online via eCF.

4.    You should request the Judge’s permission to file via eCF shortly after you have served the Summons and the Complaint to the Defendant and to his or her representative (US District Attorney).