A federal court has stalled a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, not because of the facts of the case, but because the person suing tried to hand-deliver the legal papers herself.
Mahalia Jackson, a former employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), filed the lawsuit in late 2025 alleging she was a victim of age and disability discrimination.
She also claimed she faced retaliation and a hostile work environment while working at the agency. Jackson decided to represent herself in court, a path known as proceeding pro se.
The case hit a major snag when Jackson filed her proof of service. According to court documents, Jackson personally sent the summons and complaint via certified mail to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security.
While that might seem like a straightforward way to start a legal battle, it violates a fundamental rule of federal court: a person involved in a lawsuit cannot be the one to serve the papers.
Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Sharbaugh explained in his memorandum opinion that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(c)(2) requires service to be handled by someone at least 18 years old who is “not a party” to the case.
“Jackson’s service efforts run afoul of this rule,” Judge Sharbaugh wrote. “Because Jackson personally attempted to serve Defendants, and because Jackson is undeniably ‘a party’ to this case, her service efforts were not compliant.”
Lawyers for the government moved to have the entire case thrown out, arguing that “actual notice”—the fact that they knew about the lawsuit—doesn’t make up for breaking the procedural rules. While the judge agreed the service was deficient, he decided to be lenient.
Citing the “latitude” usually given to people representing themselves, the judge declined to dismiss the case immediately. Instead, he gave Jackson an additional 30 days to hire a professional process server or find a friend to mail the papers correctly.
However, the ruling wasn’t a total win for Jackson. She had named several individual FEMA supervisors and FEMA itself as defendants. The judge dismissed those specific claims, noting that in federal employment cases, the only proper defendant is the head of the department—in this case, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin.
Mullin recently took over the post from Kristi Noem, who was the Secretary when the suit was first filed.
If Jackson fails to have a third party serve the Secretary by May 25, 2026, the judge warned that the entire case will be dismissed.
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