Wheeler v. BRAC International
- Gregory Woods
- 1:23-cv-09509
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Wheeler v. BRAC International, Judge Woods granted the dismissal motion but allowed Wheeler to file another amended complaint.
Alexander Wheeler may file another amended complaint within 30 days, limited to curing the identified deficiencies. BRAC International’s motion to dismiss was granted.
What happened
In Wheeler v. BRAC International, BRAC International asked the court to dismiss Alexander Wheeler’s Third Amended Complaint. A magistrate judge recommended granting that request.
The magistrate judge concluded that the laws of Sierra Leone and Liberia, rather than New York law, apply to Wheeler’s claims. The recommendation also said that Wheeler had not adequately stated his claims under New York law. Neither party objected within the required 14-day period.
Judge Woods reviewed the recommendation for clear error, found none, and adopted it in full. He granted BRAC International’s motion to dismiss but gave Wheeler 30 days to file another amended complaint, limited to correcting the identified problems.
The detailed version
- Wheeler v. BRAC International · No. 1:23-cv-09509
- Gregory Woods
- July 6, 2025
Background
Alexander Wheeler filed a Third Amended Complaint against BRAC International. BRAC International had a pending motion to dismiss. On June 18, 2025, Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker issued a report and recommendation advising the district court to grant the motion.
Report and Recommendation
Judge Parker concluded that the laws of West Africa, specifically the laws of Sierra Leone and Liberia, rather than New York law, apply to Wheeler’s claims. She also concluded that, in any event, Wheeler had not adequately pleaded his claims under New York law.
The parties had 14 days to submit written objections. No objection was submitted within that period. Judge Woods therefore reviewed the unobjected-to recommendation for clear error and found none. He accepted and adopted the report and recommendation in its entirety.
Ruling
The court granted BRAC International’s motion to dismiss. The opinion does not state that the case itself was dismissed with or without prejudice.
Because the applicable law was determined to be the law of Sierra Leone and Liberia, Judge Woods concluded that he could not determine that another amendment would be futile. He granted Wheeler leave to file another amended complaint, solely to cure the identified deficiencies, no later than 30 days after the order. The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate the motion at Docket No. 53.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.