[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 17, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 17CFR12.13]

[Page 275-276]
 
              TITLE 17--COMMODITY AND SECURITIES EXCHANGES
 
             CHAPTER I--COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
 
PART 12_RULES RELATING TO REPARATIONS--Table of Contents
 
Subpart A_General Information and Preliminary Consideration of Pleadings
 
Sec.  12.13  Complaint; election of procedure.

    (a) In general. Any person complaining of a violation of any 
provision of the Act or a rule, regulation or order of the Commission 
thereunder by any person who is a registrant (as defined in Sec.  12.2) 
may, at any time within two years after the cause of action accrues, 
apply to the Commission for a reparation award by filing a written 
complaint which satisfies the requirements of this rule.
    (b) Form of complaint. The form of each complaint filed under 
paragraph (a) of this section shall meet the following requirements:
    (1) Content. Each complaint shall include:
    (i) The name, residence address, and telephone number (during 
business hours) of the complainant;
    (ii) The name, address, and telephone number, if known, of each 
person alleged in the complaint to have violated the Act or any rule, 
regulation or order thereunder;
    (iii) If known, the specific provisions of the Act, rule, 
regulation, or order claimed to have been violated;
    (iv) A complete description of complainant's case, including, but 
not limited to:
    (A) A description of all relevant facts concerning each and every 
act or omission which it is claimed constitutes a violation of the Act; 
and
    (B) A description of all facts which show or tend to show the manner 
in which it is claimed that the complainant was injured by the alleged 
violations;
    (v) The amount of damages the complainant claims to have suffered 
and the method by which those damages have been computed, the amount of 
punitive damages (no more than two times the amount of such actual 
damages) the complainant claims, if any, and how complainant plans to 
demonstrate that punitive damages are appropriate;
    (vi) A statement indicating whether an arbitration proceeding or 
civil court litigation, based on the same set of facts set forth and 
involving any party named as a respondent in the complaint, has been 
instituted, and whether such a proceeding has reached a final 
disposition or is presently pending;
    (vii) A statement indicating whether any of the respondents is the 
subject of

[[Page 276]]

receivership or bankruptcy proceedings that are presently pending;
    (viii) An election of a decisional procedure pursuant to subpart C, 
D, or E. (A procedure pursuant to subpart D may be elected only if the 
total amount of damages claimed, exclusive of interest and costs, does 
not exceed $30,000. A procedure pursuant to subpart E may be elected 
only if the total amount claimed as damages, exclusive of interest and 
costs, exceeds $30,000); and
    (ix) A filing fee in the amount prescribed by Sec.  12.25 of these 
rules shall be submitted with the complaint at the time of its filing.
    (2) Subscription and verification of the complaint. Each complaint 
shall be signed personally by an individual complainant or by a duly 
authorized officer or agent of a complainant who is not a natural 
person. His signature shall be given under oath or affirmation under 
penalty of law attesting either that he knows the facts set forth in the 
complaint to be true, or that he believes the facts set forth to be 
true, in which event the information upon which he formed that belief 
shall be set forth with particularity.
    (3) Time and place of filing of complaint. A complaint shall be 
filed by delivering a copy thereof, in proper form, to the Commission at 
its principal offices in Washington, DC, addressed to the Office of 
Proceedings, attention of the Proceedings Clerk. The complaint may be 
filed in person, during normal business hours, or by certified mail, or 
registered mail with return receipt requested. If filing is by mail, it 
shall be addressed to the Proceedings Clerk, Office of Proceedings, 
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st 
Street, NW., Washington, DC 20581. The complaint shall not be served on 
any person or party named therein. Upon the filing of the complaint and 
the appropriate filing fee, the Proceedings Clerk shall assign a docket 
number to the matter and shall maintain the official docket.
    (4) Bond required if complainant is nonresident; filing date of 
nonresident's complaint. (i) If a complaint in reparations is filed by a 
nonresident of the United States, the complaint shall not be considered 
duly filed in proper form unless it is accompanied by:
    (A) A bond in double the amount of the claim either with a surety 
company approved by the Treasury Department of the United States or two 
personal sureties, each of whom shall be a citizen of the United States 
and shall qualify as financially responsible for the entire amount of 
the bond, which bond shall run to the respondent and be conditioned upon 
the payment of costs (including reasonable attorney's fees, for the 
respondent if the respondent shall prevail) and any reparation award 
that may be issued by the Commission against the complainant on any 
counterclaim asserted by respondent; or
    (B) A written request that the bond requirement be waived in 
accordance with section 14(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act, accompanied 
by sufficient proof that the country of which the complainant is a 
resident permits the filing of a complaint by a resident of the United 
States against a citizen of that country without the furnishing of a 
bond.
    (ii) The provisions of paragraphs (b)(4)(i)(A) or (b)(4)(i)(B) of 
this section must be satisfied within two years after the complainant's 
cause of action accrues.
    (iii) When mailed from a foreign country, a nonresident's complaint 
shall be deemed filed on the date that it is received in proper form by 
the Commission's Proceedings Clerk, not on the date of mailing from the 
country of origin.

[49 FR 6621, Feb. 22, 1984; 49 FR 15070, Apr. 17, 1984, as amended at 51 
FR 35507, Oct. 6, 1986; 59 FR 9636, Mar. 1, 1994; 60 FR 49335, Sept. 25, 
1995]