Colon v. Gunsett
- Vincent Briccetti
- 7:22-cv-00635
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Colon v. Gunsett, Judge Briccetti ordered an English opposition or translation before defendants could reply.
Jose Rivera Colon must submit his opposition in English or with an English translation; the defendants may file a reply after that submission. The order also affects Colon’s ability to appeal without paying filing fees.
What happened
In Colon v. Gunsett, Jose Rivera Colon, who was representing himself, opposed defendants’ partial motion to dismiss. Most of his opposition was written in Spanish.
The court ordered Colon to file an English opposition or an English translation by December 27, 2022. It gave defendants until January 10, 2023, to file a reply, if any.
Judge Briccetti did not decide the motion to dismiss in this order. He also ruled that Colon could not appeal this order without paying the filing fees because such an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Colon v. Gunsett · No. 7:22-cv-00635
- Vincent Briccetti
- Dec. 7, 2022
Background
Jose Rivera Colon filed this action and was proceeding without a lawyer and without paying the usual court fees. Defendants filed a partial motion to dismiss. After several extensions, Colon submitted his opposition on December 5, 2022. The first page was in English, but the remainder was in Spanish.
Court’s reasoning
The court explained that federal court proceedings must be conducted in English. Because the court’s local rules did not prohibit pleadings in another language, the court required Colon to provide an English version before taking final action on the defendants’ motion.
Order
The court ordered Colon, by December 27, 2022, to refile his opposition with an English translation or to file an opposition in English. It ordered defendants to file a reply, if any, by January 10, 2023. The order did not decide the defendants’ partial motion to dismiss or the underlying claims. The court also certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied Colon permission to appeal without paying the required fees. Chambers was directed to mail Colon a copy of the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.