Background
Joseph Anthony Reyna appealed the dismissal with prejudice of his petition to perpetuate testimony under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure twenty-seven, subsection a. He argued the district court erred by dismissing his complaint without allowing him to amend and that he alleged a plausible claim under Section sixteen eighty-one s-two, subsection b of Title fifteen of the United States Code.
The court’s reasoning
The court noted that while pro se briefs receive liberal construction, litigants must still brief arguments to preserve them. Reyna failed to identify any error in the district court’s reasons for dismissal. The court found the district court did not abuse its discretion because Reyna did not show why he could not presently file a suit against Wells Fargo as required by the rule.
What it means going forward
The ruling reinforces that parties seeking to perpetuate testimony must justify why they cannot file a lawsuit immediately, and failure to do so results in dismissal.