This is absolutely wild. The court *sua sponte* dismisses the case for violating Rule 8(a) so that means the court...

[demmiblue]

this is absolutely wild

the court *sua sponte* dismisses the case for violating Rule 8(a)

so that means the court, all on its own, looked at the complaint and said it's too long, too scattershot, too arbitrary to even count as a complaint. *never* seen this happen to a private party with counsel.

— Joshua Erlich (@joshuaerlich.bsky.social) 2025-09-19T16:21:13.239Z

[Goes to rules of Federal Procedures]

[Looks up Rule 8]

*passes out from laughing*

For non-lawyers, its literally this meme

— STEMthebleeding (@stemthebleeding.bsky.social) 2025-09-19T16:10:50.271Z

[Baitball Blogger]

1. I think it is the most honest appraisal of

Trump abusing the law to apply pressure on his opponents. No surprise they’re getting sloppy.

[William Seger]

12. Or maybe really don't care, since they're just doing it as intimidation

Sounds like maybe the faux-king idiot insisted on writing or editing the complaint himself, though.

[Wounded Bear]

2. Kind of describes trump's entire life and being...

[malaise]

3. Bwaaaah

Judge just told Trump "I ain't reading all that shit, go try again."😀😂😀

[RussBLib]

4. sweet!

That was a ridiculous lawsuit.

"Wah! The New York Times supported Kamala Harris and not ME! SUE! SUE!"

https://russblib.blogspot.com

[Ocelot II]

5. Read the whole thing, here. It's glorious.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.447437/gov.uscourts.flmd.447437.5.0.pdf

[wiggs]

7. would that general MSM reporting is as sober, precise, and honest. nt

[littlemissmartypants]

14. He called him out on his lack of dignity. That was delicious.

This section is hilarious.

As every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective — not a protected platform to rage against an adversary. A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally or the functional equivalent of the Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner.

Ouch.

Of course, it's all going to fly over his head like a MiG-31.

Thanks for sharing this, Ocelot II. ❤️

🇺🇸⚖️🇺🇸

[allegorical oracle]

15. Oh my Lordy -- that's a beauty. Judge Merryday deserves to be writing film scripts. In

fact, I'll bet Lawrence O'Donnell has already phoned the judge. Sadly, poor Donald won't comprehend much of the ruling. Too many big words.

[JudyM]

23. Love: "Similarly, in one of many, often repetitive, and laudatory (toward President Trump) but superfluous allegations

the pleader states, “‘The Apprentice’ represented the cultural magnitude of President Trump’s singular bril-
liance, which captured the [Z]eitgeist of our time.”

Repetitive, laudatory but superfluous

Thanks for posting this, Ocelot II!

[patphil]

6. translation

Are you kidding us? We're not going to read this shit.
GTFOH

[irisblue]

8. OK would someone explain to me like I'm five what this means.

[allegorical oracle]

20. In short, djt's attorneys submitted 84 pages of unnecessary BS when the complaint

should have been concise and to the point of why/how he's been harmed by the NY Times.

Believe he has an uphill slog because djt's lawyers need to show that the newspaper printed the story with intentional malice. That's the same problem that exists with djt's lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal regarding the Epstein birthday card.

Large newspapers keep excellent attorneys on retainer just for these occasions.

[CatWoman]

24. i mean, did you read that ridiculous complaint?

it was all like: "ME, ME, ME!!! I'm the greatest human being alive. HOW DARE THEY FUCKING CRITICIZE ME!!!"

[allegorical oracle]

29. Oh yeah. Even went into his father's history, the Trump Org's business. It was all over the

place. He'll probably submit something else, unfortunately.

[mountain grammy]

22. I said the exact same thing

then I went to the link up thread in Ocelot 's post and it looked intimidating. But I started to read and it's pretty funny. it's the Judges decision.

only bits and pieces of the actual appeal are quoted and summarized, but you get the general idea.

He's a flaming idiot!! obviously he wrote much of the appeal.

[pnwmom]

9. I was disappointed when I read they get to resubmit. Too bad. nt

[usonian]

10. Live and learn. I didn't know that sua sponte in Latin meant

[Prairie Gates]

11. Rule 8 (and similar) violations are mostly used to disqualify claims by crank or nuisance litigants

The neighborhood crank who files endless lawsuits against the neighborhood association or the proverbial inmate who files 400 suits a year. To see it applied against the President of the United States is truly remarkable.

[eppur_se_muova]

18. Why why why has Turnip not been declared a vexatious litigant in every court in the country ?? nt

[onenote]

27. Because his complaints don't meet the standard

Like it or not, he has been successful, or has gotten the other side to settle, several of the suits he has filed.

It is a very high bar for someone to be barred from access to the courts.

[Xipe Totec]

13. Court speak for TL;DR. nt

[boonecreek]

16. Something I'm wondering about.

Who is the lucky duck that has to explain "vituperation" and "invective" to Trump?

[eppur_se_muova]

17. Led to the word "spontaneous"; from "sponsio" meaning a promise or pledge (cf sponsor); "sua" indicates "(their) own"

https://fiveable.me/key-terms/elementary-latin/sponte

More colloquial version: "We just did this, OK ?"

[Bluesaph]

19. CoversTrump!

Now Trump can blame the judge for throwing out his case and he doesn’t have to do discovery!

All theater!

[Dave Bowman]

21. Vituperators gonna vituperate. What a sick clown.

[rsdsharp]

25. No, the case was not "dismissed." If it had been, it would be over, subject to appeal.

What the court did, sua sponte, was strike the complaint with leave to amend within 28 days to bring it into compliance with the pleading requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8.

[sop]

26. Donald Barratrous Trump

Barratry is the criminal offense of habitually bringing about quarrels or lawsuits, especially for profit or harassment.  Lock him up!

[onenote]

28. If only. But "barratry" is no longer a crime in the majority of states and is a misdemeanor where it is.

Moreover, his litigation history, at least from 1980 to the mid 20-teens reveals that he has been a defendant almost as much as a plaintiff and of the suits where he was a plaintiff, almost 80 percent involved his casino business.

Sadly, his cases aren't thrown out of court as often as they probably should be -- the folks he sues all too often capitulate and settle.

[republianmushroom]

30. Eric trying his hand at being an attorney ?