Rodriguez-Morales v. Breaking Ground
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-00799
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Rodriguez-Morales v. Breaking Ground, Judge Swain ordered the unrepresented plaintiff to sign the complaint within 30 days or face dismissal without prejudice.
The order directly affects Enki Rodriguez-Morales, who must sign and return the signature page within 30 days to avoid dismissal without prejudice. The defendants are not required to respond at this stage because no summons or answer will issue yet.
What happened
In Rodriguez-Morales v. Breaking Ground, Enki Rodriguez-Morales brought the action without a lawyer, but the submitted complaint did not include a signature.
The court directed Rodriguez-Morales to sign and submit the provided signature page within 30 days. No summons or answer will issue at this time. If the signature is not submitted on time, the action will be dismissed without prejudice; if it is submitted, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its usual procedures.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Rodriguez-Morales v. Breaking Ground · No. 1:25-cv-00799
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 2, 2025
Background
Enki Rodriguez-Morales filed this action without a lawyer. The complaint was unsigned. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) requires an unrepresented party to personally sign a pleading, written motion, or other paper.
Order
The court ordered Rodriguez-Morales to sign and submit the attached signature page within 30 days of the order. The court directed that no summons or answer issue at that time. If Rodriguez-Morales complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. If Rodriguez-Morales does not comply within the permitted time, the action will be dismissed without prejudice, meaning the dismissal would not bar refiling on that basis.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion does not decide the merits of the claims or describe them.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.