If your intention is to validate uniqueness of name first then you could do this
validates :name, presence: true, uniqueness:{case_sensitive:false}
validate :exists_with_submit_date
def exists_with_submit_date
existing_record = self.find_by_name(name)
if existing_record && existing_record.submit_date
errors.add(:name, "all ready exists with submit_date #{existing_record.submit_date}")
end
end