Gil v. Bludhorn
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-10255
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Gil v. Bludhorn, Judge Swain dismissed the unsigned complaint without prejudice after plaintiffs failed to provide a required original signature.
Plaintiffs Lic. Juan Bautista Gil and Rufino Martinez, whose complaint was dismissed without prejudice; any appeal was also denied permission to proceed without paying court fees.
What happened
In Gil v. Bludhorn, the court had ordered the plaintiffs to resubmit the complaint’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days.
The plaintiffs did not submit a signed signature page, even though the earlier order warned that failing to do so would lead to dismissal. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning it could potentially be filed again.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal without paying court fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Gil v. Bludhorn · No. 1:21-cv-10255
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 11, 2022
Background
On December 9, 2021, the court ordered Plaintiffs Lic. Juan Bautista Gil and Rufino Martinez to resubmit the complaint’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days. The order warned that failure to comply would result in dismissal.
Court’s reasoning
The plaintiffs did not submit a signed signature page. Relying on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a), the court dismissed the complaint without prejudice.
Other ruling
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to appeal without paying the required court fees. The clerk was directed to mail the order to Plaintiff Lic. Juan Bautista Gil and record service on the docket.
Disposition
The complaint was dismissed without prejudice. The appeal-fee waiver was denied.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.