Elmore v. Universal Services of America, LP
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-05883
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Elmore v. Universal Services, Judge Swain dismissed the duplicate discrimination lawsuit without prejudice and denied fee-free appeal status.
Cecil Elmore, Jr.’s duplicate lawsuit was dismissed, while his pending related case under docket number 24-CV-5808 was not dismissed by this order.
What happened
In Elmore v. Universal Services of America, LP, Cecil Elmore, Jr., who was representing himself, alleged racial discrimination under federal law. The court said he had already filed a case against the same defendants based on the same facts.
The court dismissed this complaint as duplicative of the pending case, docket number 24-CV-5808. The dismissal was without prejudice to that pending case, meaning this order did not bar the claims from continuing there.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment, certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith, and denied fee-free status for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Elmore v. Universal Services of America, LP · No. 1:24-cv-05883
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 14, 2024
Background
Cecil Elmore, Jr., appearing without a lawyer, brought claims alleging racial discrimination under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e. The defendants listed in the complaint were Universal Services of America, LP; GWIS, LLC; Joel Tanner; Kyle Johnston; Adam Doench; Justin Ostensen and Associates LLC; Karen Armstrong; and Christi Stewart.
The court stated that Elmore had previously submitted a duplicate complaint against the same defendants, alleging the same facts, in a prior related proceeding under docket number 24-CV-5808 in the Southern District of New York.
Ruling
The court dismissed the complaint as duplicative of the pending case. It stated that no useful purpose would be served by litigating the duplicate lawsuit. The dismissal was without prejudice to Elmore’s pending case under docket number 24-CV-5808.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The Clerk of Court was directed to enter judgment. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.