Harriram v. Fera
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:22-cv-03356
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Harriram v. Fera, Judge Moses allowed a proposed sur-reply to remain on the docket but barred further submissions on the pending dismissal motion.
Priya Harriram and the defendants in the pending motion to dismiss, because the proposed sur-reply remained on the docket and no further submissions were permitted.
What happened
In Harriram v. Fera, Priya Harriram submitted a second opposition to the defendants’ motion to dismiss, which the court treated as a proposed sur-reply and a request to file it.
The court explained that sur-replies are normally allowed only when they address arguments raised for the first time in a reply brief. It found that Harriram’s proposed sur-reply did not identify or address any such new argument.
Even so, Judge Moses permitted the proposed sur-reply to remain on the docket and stated that no further submissions would be accepted concerning the pending motion to dismiss. The court did not decide the motion to dismiss in this order.
The detailed version
- Harriram v. Fera · No. 1:22-cv-03356
- Ronnie Abrams
- Dec. 21, 2022
What the court considered
The court received and reviewed Priya Harriram’s second opposition to the defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint. The court construed that filing as a proposed sur-reply—a response submitted after the moving party’s reply brief—and as a request for permission to file it.
Court’s reasoning
The court stated that leave to file a sur-reply is normally granted only when the sur-reply addresses arguments raised for the first time in the reply brief. It concluded that Harriram’s proposed sur-reply did not identify or address any argument raised for the first time in the defendants’ reply.
Order
Despite that conclusion, the court permitted the proposed sur-reply to remain on the docket. It ordered that no further submissions would be accepted in support of or opposition to the pending motion to dismiss. This order did not decide the motion to dismiss itself. Judge Barbara Moses signed the order as the United States Magistrate Judge.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.