619.19 Verification not required — affidavits.

1. Pleadings need not be verified unless otherwise required by statute. Where a pleading is verified, it is not necessary that subsequent pleadings be verified unless otherwise required by statute.

2. The signature of a party, the party’s legal counsel, or any other person representing the party, to a motion, pleading, or other paper is a certificate that:

a. The person has read the motion, pleading, or other paper.

b. To the best of the person’s knowledge, information, and belief, formed after reasonable inquiry, it is grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law.

c. It is not interposed for any improper purpose, such as to harass or cause an unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation.

3. If a motion, pleading, or other paper is not signed, it shall be stricken unless it is signed promptly after the omission is called to the attention of the pleader or movant.

4. If a motion, pleading, or other paper is signed in violation of this section, the court, upon motion or upon its own initiative, shall impose upon the person signing, the represented party, or both, an appropriate sanction, which may include an order to pay the other party or parties the amount of the reasonable expenses incurred because of the filing of the motion, pleading, or other paper, including a reasonable attorney fee.

86 Acts, ch 1211, §38; 2013 Acts, ch 30, §186