United States v. Doonan

Background

The Government sued William Doonan and William Doonan and Associates, Inc., doing business as William Doonan, Esq. (WDA), seeking a permanent injunction that would prevent the defendants from, among other things, preparing federal tax returns for others.

Doonan filed an answer on December 9, 2019. The answer appeared to respond for both Doonan and WDA, including by asking the court to deny relief against WDA, but Doonan signed it only for himself. No licensed lawyer otherwise responded to the complaint for WDA.

The Government moved to strike the answer to the extent it was filed for WDA. WDA did not respond to the motion.

Court’s Analysis

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) requires a court filing to be signed by a lawyer of record or, when a party is unrepresented, by that party personally. The court explained that federal law permits a person to represent himself but does not permit an unlicensed person to represent someone else. A corporation therefore may appear in federal court only through licensed counsel.

The court found that WDA was a corporation and could not be represented by Doonan or proceed without a lawyer. Although Doonan had formerly been a licensed attorney, the opinion states that he had been disbarred following a criminal conviction. As a result, his answer could not be filed on WDA’s behalf.

Ruling

Judge Analisa Torres granted the Government’s motion to strike WDA’s answer at ECF No. 7. The court clarified that the answer was not otherwise stricken to the extent it answered the complaint for Doonan personally.

The court ordered any lawyer retained by WDA to file a notice of appearance by March 6, 2020. It stated that WDA’s failure to retain counsel would be considered a failure to defend and could warrant default judgment against the corporation. The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate the Government’s motion at ECF No. 15.