Sanchez v. The City of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-05935
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Sanchez v. City of New York was dismissed without prejudice as duplicative, and Judge Swain denied in forma pauperis status for an appeal.
Rafael A. Sanchez’s duplicate case against The City of New York and John Doe New York City Police Department Officers 1-5 was dismissed; his separate pending case under docket number 24-CV-5740 (LTS) was not dismissed by this order.
What happened
Rafael A. Sanchez, who represented himself, sued The City of New York and five unidentified New York City police officers. He alleged that the officers seized his motorcycle in Bronx County on October 25, 2023.
Sanchez had already filed a nearly identical case against the same defendants, involving the same facts and claims. That earlier case was still pending under docket number 24-CV-5740 (LTS), so the court found no useful purpose in allowing the duplicate case to continue.
Judge Swain dismissed this case without prejudice to Sanchez’s pending earlier case, meaning the dismissal did not bar the related case from continuing. The court also denied permission to proceed without paying court fees on appeal and directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Sanchez v. The City of New York · No. 1:24-cv-05935
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 7, 2024
Background
Rafael A. Sanchez, proceeding without a lawyer, brought this action against The City of New York and John Doe New York City Police Department Officers 1-5. The complaint alleged that the officers seized Sanchez’s motorcycle in Bronx County on October 25, 2023.
Duplicate Lawsuit
The court stated that Sanchez had submitted a nearly identical complaint against the same defendants on July 24, 2024. That earlier case remained pending under docket number 24-CV-5740 (LTS). Sanchez filed this action five days later, on July 29, 2024. Because this complaint raised the same claims as the earlier case, the court concluded that litigating both cases would serve no useful purpose.
Ruling
The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice as duplicative of the earlier pending case. The dismissal was without prejudice to Sanchez’s pending case under docket number 24-CV-5740 (LTS). The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying court fees for an appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3). The court directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment in this action.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.