Braithwaite v. Rivera
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-11175
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Braithwaite v. Rivera, Judge Swain ordered the unrepresented plaintiff to submit an original complaint signature within 30 days or face dismissal.
Amber Braithwaite must provide the required original signature for the case to proceed. The defendants were not required to respond at this stage because no summons had issued.
What happened
In Braithwaite v. Rivera, Amber Braithwaite filed a complaint by email without the seventh page of the court’s form. That page contained the signature, date, and other identifying information.
Because Braithwaite was not represented by a lawyer, the court said she had to personally sign the complaint. The court ordered her to complete and submit the signature page with an original signature within 30 days.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that no summons issue for now. The case would be processed if Braithwaite complied, but the action would be dismissed if she did not. The court also denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
The detailed version
- Braithwaite v. Rivera · No. 1:23-cv-11175
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 15, 2024
Background
Amber Braithwaite, appearing without a lawyer, filed the complaint by email against Norberto Rivera and New York Collateral Recovery Corp. She used the court’s seven-page general complaint form but did not submit page seven, which contains the plaintiff’s certification and warnings, signature and date spaces, and spaces for identifying information.
Signature requirement
The court cited Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) and Local Civil Rule 11.1(a), which require an unrepresented party to sign a pleading personally. The court directed Braithwaite to complete, sign, and submit the complaint’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days of the order. A blank signature page was attached.
Ruling and effect
The court ordered that no summons issue at that time. If Braithwaite complied, the Clerk’s Office would process the case under its procedures. If she failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Braithwaite permission to appeal without paying fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims against the defendants.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.