BILZIN SUMBERG BAENA PRICE & AXELROD LLP

1450 Brickell Avenue, Suite 2300, Miami, FL 33131-3456

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

WEST PALM BEACH DIVISION

CASE NO.: 9:22-cv-81780-MIDDLEBROOKS/MATTHEWMAN

DONALD J. TRUMP,

Plaintiff,

v. 

LETITIA JAMES, 

Defendant.

________________________________/ 

PARTIALLY AGREED MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO 

RESPOND TO AMENDED COMPLAINT AND TO PLAINTIFF’S

“EMERGENCY” MOTION FOR INJUNCTION

Defendant Letitia James, Attorney General of the State of New York (“Attorney General 

James”), by and through her undersigned counsel and pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 

6(b), hereby respectfully requests (a) an extension of time, up to and including December 16, 2022 

to file a motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint (D.E. 1-1 at 56) filed by Plaintiff, Donald J. 

Trump (“Plaintiff”), and (b) an extension of time to serve her opposition to Plaintiffs’ 

“Emergency”1 Motion for Temporary Injunction (“Motion for Temporary Injunction”) (D.E. 1-1 

at 113). In support of this motion, Attorney General James states:

1. On November 2, 2022 Plaintiff filed a Complaint (the “Initial Complaint”) in the 

Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, Florida Civil 

Division, Case No. 2022-CA-10792 (the “State Court Action”). Plaintiff did not serve Attorney 

General James with process or with the Initial Complaint. (D.E. 1-1 at 11) 

 

1 For the avoidance of doubt, the Motion for Temporary Injunction does not, and cannot, comply 

with Southern District of Florida Local Rule 7.1(d). 

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2. Thereafter, on November 15, 2022, Plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint in the 

State Court Action, as well as the Motion for Temporary Injunction. Plaintiff has not served

Attorney General James with either the Amended Complaint or the Motion for Temporary 

Injunction. 

3. Although Attorney General James had not been served with any process, pleadings, 

or orders in the State Court Action, Attorney General James became aware of the Amended 

Complaint and the Motion for Temporary Injunction on November 16, 2022 and immediately filed 

a Notice of Removal (D.E. 1) effectuating the removal of the State Court Action to this Court 

based on original federal subject matter jurisdiction and complete diversity of citizenship pursuant 

to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1332, 1441, and 1446.

4. Notwithstanding that Attorney General James still has not been served with any 

process, pleadings, or orders, it appears that Attorney General James’ response to the Amended 

Complaint is due on December 7, 2022 pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 81(c)(2), and 

that Attorney General James’ opposition to the Motion for Temporary Injunction is due on 

November 30, 2022 pursuant to Southern District of Florida Local Rule 7.2. 

5. For the avoidance of doubt, Attorney General James will be moving to dismiss the 

Amended Complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b), including, without 

limitation, specifically under Rule 12(b)(2) due to the lack of personal jurisdiction. See, e.g., 

Stroman Realty, Inc. v. Wercinski, 513 F.3d 476, 488 (5th Cir. 2008) (“Federalism and state 

sovereignty are an essential part of the constraints that due process imposes upon personal 

jurisdiction,” and they prevent a federal district court from exercising personal jurisdiction “over 

a nonresident state official.”); see also, e.g., Trump v. Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House 

of Representatives, 415 F. Supp. 3d 98 (D.D.C. 2019) (finding lack of personal jurisdiction over 

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New York state officials, including Attorney General James). 

6. In addition to the lack of personal jurisdiction, given the breadth of the allegations 

levied in the Amended Complaint, as well as the intervening Thanksgiving Holiday, Attorney 

General James respectfully requests additional time within which to fully and completely analyze 

and prepare the motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint, which includes purported claims under 

the U.S. Constitution pursuant to 42 USC § 1983 and the Florida Constitution, and purports to seek 

declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as damages “(1) potentially as high as $250,000,000 in 

confiscation from the civil action; (2) legal fees and costs incurred in defending against the 

campaign of retaliation; (3) and other damages in an amount to be proven at trial.” See D.E. 1-1 at 

56, Amended Complaint at ¶ 120; see also id. at ¶ 9 (Plaintiff “seeks. . . compensatory damages 

up to $250,000,000”). 

7. To that end, Attorney General James respectfully requests a brief 9-day extension 

of time, up to and including December 16, 2022, within which to file her motion to dismiss the 

Amended Complaint. 

8. Moreover, with respect to the Motion for Temporary Injunction, given the Court’s 

obvious lack of personal jurisdiction, as will be set forth fully in Attorney General James’ motion 

to dismiss, along with other bases for dismissal (including without limitation sovereign immunity,2

 

2 See Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt, __ U.S. __, 139 S. Ct. 1485, 1492, 1499 (2019) 

(holding federal constitution bars private suits against a state in the courts of other states); Stroud 

v. McIntosh, 722 F.3d 11294, 21302 (11th Cir. 2013) (holding removal by a state does not “waive[] 

any defense it would have enjoyed in state court,” including “other aspects of sovereign immunity” 

independent of the Eleventh Amendment) (quoted in Page v. Hicks, 773 F. App’x 514, 518 (11th 

Cir. 2019)).

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absolute prosecutorial immunity,3 and failure to state a claim based on multiple grounds4), 

Attorney General James respectfully requests that, in the event the action is not dismissed, the 

Court extend the deadline to respond in opposition to the Motion for Temporary Injunction until 

10 days after the entry of an order adjudicating Attorney General James’ motion to dismiss under 

Rule 12(b), so as to avoid unnecessary attorneys’ fees and costs, and to avoid burdening the Court 

with unnecessary briefing, in the event the action is dismissed. In the alternative, Attorney General 

James respectfully requests a 16-day extension of time, up to and including December 23, 2022, 

within which to serve the opposition to the Motion for Temporary Injunction. Attorney General 

James’ request is particularly appropriate given that under the current deadlines, the opposition to 

the Motion for Temporary Injunction is due before the response to the Amended Complaint, which 

would be Attorney General James’ first opportunity to contest personal jurisdiction and raise other 

meritorious grounds for dismissal. 

9. The requested extensions of time are sought in good faith, for good cause as set 

forth above, and are particularly reasonable given that Attorney General James was not served

with service of process. 

Local Rule 7.1(a)(3) CERTIFICATE OF GOOD FAITH CONFERENCE

Pursuant to Local Rule 7.1(a)(3)(A), undersigned counsel for the movant certifies that she 

has conferred with counsel for Plaintiff, Timothy Weber, in a good faith effort to resolve the issues 

 

3 See Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409 (1976) (holding prosecutors are immune from liability 

for acts that are within the scope of prosecutorial duties); Cook v. Houston Post, 616 F.2d 791, 793 

(5th Cir. 1980) (the former Fifth Circuit holding Imbler immunity extends to a prosecutor's actions

in initiating, investigating and pursuing a prosecution). 

4 See, e.g., Albright v. Oliver, 510 U.S. 266, 268 (1994) (holding there is no substantive due 

process right to be free from investigation or even from prosecution on less than probable cause); 

Rowe v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 8 F. Supp. 2d 1369, 1373 (S.D. Fla. 1998) (citing Albright).

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BILZIN SUMBERG BAENA PRICE & AXELROD LLP

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raised in this motion, and has been able to reach agreement in part but has been unable to fully 

resolve the issues raised herein. In this regard, Plaintiff has agreed to the requested 9-day 

extension of time, up to and including December 16, 2022, for Attorney General James to file her

motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint. (The undersigned also agreed to Plaintiff’s counsel’s 

request for an extension for Plaintiff’s response to the anticipated motion to dismiss of up to and 

including January 10, 2023.) Plaintiff did not agree to Attorney General James’ requested 

extension of time to respond in opposition to the pending Motion for Temporary Injunction, 

however, Plaintiff was willing to agree to a one-week extension of time to December 7, 2022. 

WHEREFORE, Attorney General James respectfully requests that the Court: (1) grant a 9-

day extension of time, up to and including December 16, 2022, within which to file the motion to 

dismiss the Amended Complaint; (2) extend Attorney General James’ deadline to respond in 

opposition to the pending Motion for Temporary Injunction until 10 days after the adjudication of 

the anticipated motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b) in the event the action is not dismissed, or in 

the alternative, grant a 16-day extension of time, up to and including December 23, 2022, within 

which to serve the opposition to the Motion for Temporary Injunction; and (3) grant such other 

and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper. 

Dated: November 23, 2022 

 Respectfully submitted,

BILZIN SUMBERG BAENA PRICE

& AXELROD LLP

1450 Brickell Ave., Suite 2300 

Miami, Florida 33131 

Telephone: 305-374-7593 

Facsimile: 305-351-2253 

 By: /s/ Melissa Pallett-Vasquez 

 Melissa Pallett-Vasquez

 Florida Bar No. 715816 

Jeffrey Snyder

Florida Bar No. 21281

Case 9:22-cv-81780-DMM Document 6 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/23/2022 Page 5 of 6
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BILZIN SUMBERG BAENA PRICE & AXELROD LLP

1450 Brickell Avenue, Suite 2300, Miami, FL 33131-3456

Robert Turken

Florida Bar No. 306355 

 mpallett@bilzin.com 

 jsnyder@bilzin.com 

 rturken@bilzin.com 

 stapanes@bilzin.com 

vlopez@bilzin.com 

asolis@bilzin.com 

eservice@bilzin.com 

/s/Andrew S. Amer 

Andrew S. Amer, Pro Hac Vice [D.E. 5] 

Andrew.amer@ag.ny.gov

Colleen K. Faherty, Pro Hac Vice [D.E. 5] 

Colleen.faherty@ag.ny.gov 

State of New York Office of The 

State Attorney General

28 Liberty Street, 18th Floor 

New York, NY 10005-1495 

Telephone: 212-416-6127 

Counsel for Letitia James 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

The undersigned hereby certifies that a copy of the foregoing motion was served this 23rd

day of November, 2022 upon all counsel of record via CM/ECF. 

 /s/Melissa Pallett-Vasquez 

 Melissa Pallett-Vasquez

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