Harrison v. Kubrick Group
- Vyskocil
- 1:23-cv-10274
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Harrison v. Kubrick Group: Judge Vyskocil denied Harrison’s premature summary-judgment motion, allowing renewal after fact discovery.
Levi Harrison, Jr., Kubrick Group, and Tycho Bidco Limited; the order particularly affects Harrison’s summary-judgment motion and requests for assistance with mediation and free civil counsel.
What happened
In Harrison v. Kubrick Group, Plaintiff Levi Harrison, Jr.’s motion for summary judgment was denied without prejudice as premature. The court said he may renew the motion after fact discovery closes.
The court also referred the case to mediation and asked the Mediation Office to try to find limited free civil counsel to assist Harrison with mediation. The parties must report whether they contacted that office by July 15, 2024, and must report whether mediation succeeded within five days after it ends.
Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil explained that civil litigants do not have a right to appointed counsel and that the court cannot pay for civil counsel, although free counsel may be available. The court also directed the Clerk to terminate the motions at docket entries 21 and 28.
The detailed version
- Harrison v. Kubrick Group · No. 1:23-cv-10274
- Vyskocil
- July 8, 2024
Background
The court held an initial pretrial conference on July 8, 2024. Plaintiff Levi Harrison, Jr. moved for summary judgment, which asks the court to decide a claim when the relevant facts are not genuinely disputed.
Rulings
The court denied without prejudice Harrison’s motion for summary judgment as premature. The order states that Harrison may renew the motion after the close of fact discovery.
The court referred the case for mediation and requested that the Mediation Office try to locate limited free civil counsel to assist Harrison with the mediation. The parties were ordered to file a joint letter by July 15, 2024, stating whether they had contacted the Mediation Office.
If mediation does not resolve the case, the court stated that it intends to grant Harrison’s request to seek free civil counsel to assist with the litigation. The court explained that civil litigants have no right to appointed counsel and that it lacks funds to pay counsel in civil matters; any free civil counsel may or may not be available. The parties must file a joint letter within five days after mediation concludes stating whether mediation was successful. If it was not, Harrison may renew his request for free counsel in that letter.
The Clerk of Court was respectfully requested to terminate the motions pending at docket entries 21 and 28.
Effect of the Order
The summary-judgment motion was not finally resolved on its merits; it was denied without prejudice because the court considered it premature. The order does not state the underlying claims or explain what result a renewed motion might receive. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil’s order leaves the case subject to fact discovery, mediation, and any later motion Harrison may renew.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.