2nd Cir. Affirms 9-11 Claim Dismissals for Office Workers’ Failure to Properly Certify Discovery Responses

NEW YORK — The 2nd Circuit has affirmed dismissal of claims by 170 office workers alleging exposure to toxins after the Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks, finding no abuse of discretion in a lower court’s ruling that plaintiffs’ failure to properly certify discovery responses amounted to a failure to prosecute.

The appellate panel ruled in a per curiam opinion July 12 that plaintiffs’ failure to certify that their responses were “true and correct,” and “under penalty of perjury,” as expressly required by 128 U.S.C § 1746, despite repeated warnings and filing extensions, was a sufficient basis for dismissal …