Washington v. DHS Department of Homeless Services
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-05042
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 8
In Washington v. DHS, Judge Swain extended Sandra A. Washington’s amendment deadline by 60 days and denied fee-free appeal status.
Sandra A. Washington, the self-represented plaintiff, must file an amended complaint within the extended deadline to avoid the possibility of judgment based on the earlier order.
What happened
In Sandra A. Washington v. DHS, et al., the court addressed Washington’s request for more time to amend her complaint. An earlier order said her complaint did not state a claim and gave her 60 days to file an amended complaint.
The court granted Washington’s request for an extension and directed her to file an amended complaint within 60 days of this order. The court warned that, if she did not meet the deadline and could not show a good reason for the failure, it would enter judgment for the reasons stated in the earlier order.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied Washington permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the merits of any amended complaint.
The detailed version
- Washington v. DHS Department of Homeless Services · No. 1:24-cv-05042
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 5, 2025
Background
Sandra A. Washington is proceeding without a lawyer. In an order dated January 2, 2025, the court held that her complaint failed to state a claim for which relief could be granted and gave her 60 days to file an amended complaint.
On March 4, 2025, the court received Washington’s request for additional time to file the amended complaint.
Ruling
The court granted Washington an extension and directed her to file an amended complaint within 60 days of the March 5 order. The court stated that if she did not file the amended complaint by that deadline, and could not show good cause—a legally sufficient reason—for failing to do so, the court would enter judgment for the reasons given in the January 2 order.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied Washington permission to appeal without prepaying filing fees. The order did not address the merits of any amended complaint.
Read the full 8-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.