Gordon v. Gordon
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-06971
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Gordon v. Gordon, Judge Swain granted Cathine Gordon’s reconsideration motion, extended her deadline to amend, and kept the case closed.
Cathine Gordon, the self-represented plaintiff, may file an amended complaint within 30 days; the case will remain closed unless she does so and the court directs that it be reopened.
What happened
In Gordon v. Gordon, Cathine Gordon, representing herself, wrote that she never received the court’s earlier order dismissing her complaint. Court records appeared to show that the order may have been sent to the wrong email address.
The court treated her letter as a request to reconsider the dismissal. It granted that request, directed the Clerk to resend the earlier order, and gave her 30 days to file an amended complaint addressing the stated problems.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain kept the case closed for now. If Cathine Gordon files an amended complaint on time, the court will direct the Clerk to cancel the civil judgment and reopen the case; otherwise, the judgment will remain. The court also denied fee-free appeal status.
The detailed version
- Gordon v. Gordon · No. 1:24-cv-06971
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 12, 2025
Background
Cathine Gordon filed this action without a lawyer. On December 10, 2024, the court dismissed her complaint for failure to state a claim on which relief may be granted and gave her 30 days to file an amended complaint. After she did not file one, the Clerk entered judgment dismissing the action on January 22, 2025.
The court later received a letter from Gordon stating that she appeared not to have received the dismissal order. Court records indicated that the order may have been sent to an incorrect email address.
Ruling
The court treated Gordon’s letter as a motion for reconsideration under Rule 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Because she alleged that she had not received the dismissal order and the court records appeared to support that allegation, the court granted the motion for reconsideration.
The court directed the Clerk to resend Gordon a copy of the December 10 dismissal order. It also granted Gordon an extension of time and directed her to file an amended complaint correcting the deficiencies identified in that order within 30 days of February 12, 2025.
The case remains closed. If Gordon files an amended complaint within the deadline, the court will direct the Clerk to cancel the civil judgment and reopen the action. If she does not, the civil judgment will remain in place. The court certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.