Obah v. Department of Probation
- Subramanian
- 1:24-cv-04776
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Obah v. Department of Probation, Judge Subramanian denied Probation’s motion to dismiss as moot after Obah amended his complaint.
Patrick C. Obah and the Department of Probation; the Department’s pending motion to dismiss was denied as moot, and the amended complaint remained subject to a possible later motion to dismiss.
What happened
In Obah v. Department of Probation, the Department of Probation moved to dismiss Patrick Obah’s complaint. The court gave Obah the option to respond or amend his complaint, and he filed an amended complaint before the deadline.
Because Obah amended his complaint while the Department’s motion was pending, the court denied the motion to dismiss as moot. The court did not decide whether the amended complaint should be dismissed.
Judge Arun Subramanian issued the order on February 18, 2025. The Department may seek dismissal of the amended complaint by referring to its earlier papers or filing a new motion, with deadlines set for the parties’ responses.
The detailed version
- Obah v. Department of Probation · No. 1:24-cv-04776
- Subramanian
- Feb. 18, 2025
Background
On November 4, 2024, the Department of Probation filed a motion to dismiss Patrick C. Obah’s complaint. The court ordered Obah either to respond to the motion or to amend his complaint by February 21, 2025. Obah filed an amended complaint on February 10, 2025.
Court’s reasoning
The court stated that when a plaintiff properly amends a complaint while a motion to dismiss is still pending, the court may deny the pending motion as moot or evaluate it using the allegations in the amended complaint. Here, the court chose to deny the Department’s pending motion as moot. The order does not address the merits of Obah’s claims or determine whether the amended complaint states a claim.
Ruling and next steps
Judge Arun Subramanian denied the Department of Probation’s motion to dismiss, Docket 11, as moot. The court stated that, if the Department wishes to seek dismissal of the amended complaint, it may file a letter referring the court to its previous papers or file a new motion by March 4, 2025. If it files such a motion, Obah’s opposition will be due April 1, 2025, and the Department’s reply will be due April 8, 2025.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.