Atherley v. New York City Department of Education
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-06021
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Atherley v. New York City Department of Education, Judge Swain dismissed the new complaint and directed it be filed in Atherley’s earlier related case.
Kimling Atherley, the New York City Department of Education, and Colin Caldwell. The complaint in this action was docketed as an amended complaint in Atherley’s earlier related case, while this action was dismissed without prejudice to that litigation.
What happened
Atherley v. New York City Department of Education is an employment-discrimination case brought by Kimling Atherley under Title VII, a federal law that prohibits certain workplace discrimination. Atherley sued the New York City Department of Education and Colin Caldwell without a lawyer.
Atherley had already brought a related Title VII case against the same defendants, and that case was pending before another judge. The court concluded that Atherley intended the complaint in this action to be an amended complaint in the earlier case. The submission also referred to an addendum, but no attachment or statement of facts was included.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk to docket the complaint in the earlier related case and dismissed the complaint in this action without prejudice to litigation of that earlier case. She also denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees and directed the Clerk to enter a civil judgment.
The detailed version
- Atherley v. New York City Department of Education · No. 1:24-cv-06021
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 15, 2024
Background
Kimling Atherley brought this pro se employment-discrimination action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against the New York City Department of Education and Colin Caldwell. The complaint was filed in this action on August 2, 2024.
The court’s records showed that Atherley had already brought a related Title VII action against the same defendants. That earlier case was pending before Judge Jessica G. L. Clarke, who had ordered Atherley to file an amended complaint by August 2, 2024. The court concluded that Atherley intended the filing in this action to serve as the amended complaint in the earlier related case.
Court’s action
The court directed the Clerk of Court to docket the complaint filed in this action, identified as ECF 1, as the amended complaint in the earlier related case, No. 23-CV-0383 (JGLC) (KHP). The court also noted that Atherley referred to an addendum, but the submission contained neither an attachment nor a statement of facts, and advised Atherley to submit the statement of facts in the earlier case.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed Atherley’s complaint in this action without prejudice to litigation of the earlier related case. The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and therefore denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees. The Clerk was directed to enter a civil judgment in this action.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.