Case dismissed because plaintiff failed to sign complaint or "promptly" remedy
Xplor Industrial Complex, LLC sued Signature Bank over a foreclosure issue. The owner of "Xplor" filed the claim without an attorney, apparently, and in place of a signature, he typed in the name of the LLC. Noticing this, the Defendant bank's attorneys immediately sought dismissal of the Complaint because it was not properly signed. A hearing was set for 10 days later and Xplor's owner did not appear. The trial judge dismissed the case and Xplor appealed. The Plaintiff Xplor argued that under the Court Rules, it should have been allowed an opportunity to correct the error: "If a document is not signed, it shall be stricken unless it is signed promptly after the omission is called to the attention of the party."
The Court of Appeals held that when the Xplor owner failed to appear at the hearing noticed ten days after the defect was brought to his attention by the Defendant's motion, he lost his opportunity to repair the omission, since he was required to respond "promptly." Although the term is not defined in the Court Rules, the appellate judges deemed the dictionary definition to require action "at once without delay."It is ironic that in an era where literally hundreds of mortgage foreclosure actions have been filed and successfully pursued, even though they were inadequately documented by banking attorneys and "foreclosure mills," that a bank customer's complaint should be dismissed on such a technical basis.