Starboard Attitude Trust, et al. v. FirstFleet Incorporated

• Court: District Court, D. Arizona
• Decided: October 29, 2025
• Docket: 2:25-cv-03701
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Starboard Attitude Trust, et al., No. CV-25-03701-PHX-MTL

10 Plaintiffs, ORDER

11 v.

12 FirstFleet Incorporated,

13 Defendant. 14 15 Plaintiff Gary L. Wagoner filed a motion to allow electronic filing by a party 16 appearing without an attorney (Doc. 8). The Court has considered the motion (Doc. 8) and 17 will grant it. 18 In its review, however, the Court found that Dr. Wagoner, a non-attorney, filed the 19 complaint as the “authorized representative” for Plaintiff Starboard Attitude Trust. (Doc. 1- 20 1 at 9). When appearing in federal court, an entity cannot represent itself, and a non- 21 attorney cannot represent an entity. See Rowland v. Cal. Men’s Colony, Unit II Men’s 22 Advisory Council, 506 U.S. 194, 201-02 (1993). Furthermore, “[a] non-attorney trustee 23 may not represent a trust pro se in an Article III court.” C.E. Pope Equity Tr. v. United 24 States, 818 F.2d 696, 697-98 (9th Cir. 1987). A non-attorney may represent himself in a 25 case before the Court. See id. 26 Here, the Court does not know what Dr. Wagoner means by “Authorized 27 Representative for Starboard Attitude Trust” based on the complaint. If Dr. Wagoner 28 wishes to appear as a party, rather than represent Starboard Attitude Trust, he must be “the 1 || actual beneficial owner of the claims being asserted by the Trust.” See id. 2 Accordingly, 3 IT IS ORDERED granting Plaintiff Gary L. Wagoner’s motion to allow electronic 4|| filing by a party appearing without an attorney (Doc. 8) in this case only. Plaintiff is required to comply with all rules outlined in the District of Arizona’s Case 6 || Management/Electronic Case Filing Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual, have access to the required equipment and software, have a personal electronic mailbox of 8 || sufficient capacity to send and receive electronic notice of case related transmissions, be 9|| able to electronically transmit documents to the court in .pdf, complete the necessary forms 10 || to register as a user with the Clerk’s Office within five days of the date of this Order (if not already on file), register as a subscriber to PACER (Public Access to Electronic Records) || within five days of the date of this Order (if this has not already occurred), and comply 13} with the privacy policy of the Judicial Conference of the United States and the E-Government Act of 2002. 15 Any misuse of the ECF system will result in immediate discontinuation of this privilege and disabling of the password assigned to the party. 17 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within fourteen (14) days from the date of 18 || this Order that Plaintiff Gary L. Wagoner must file a notice explaining what he means by “authorized representative for Starboard Attitude Trust.” Failure to do so may result in 20 || dismissal of the case for failure to prosecute. 21 IT IS FINALLY ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall provide a copy of 22 || this Order to the Attorney Admissions/Admin Clerk. 23 Dated this 29th day of October, 2025. 24

76 Michael T. Liburdi 27 United States District Judge 28

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