Monplaisir v. The City of New York
- Lewis Liman
- 1:24-cv-01882
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Monplaisir v. City of New York, Judge Liman set a trustee-substitution deadline, denied sealing, and said the pending dismissal motion would be withdrawn without prejudice absent City objection.
Andy Monplaisir, the bankruptcy trustee, and the defendants—the City of New York, Department of Finance, Sandip Desai, Robert Paskus, Matthew Visscher, Irina Voloshina, Joshua Hantman, and Ari Lieberman—were affected. The order also left the bankruptcy petition publicly accessible.
What happened
In Monplaisir v. The City of New York, Andy Monplaisir told the court that he and his wife had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The court explained that claims he owned when the bankruptcy began generally became part of the bankruptcy estate and had to be pursued by the bankruptcy trustee. The court found no evidence that the trustee had properly abandoned this lawsuit.
The court gave the trustee until October 17, 2025, to join the case or replace Monplaisir as the proper plaintiff. If the trustee did not timely act, the court said it would consider a defense motion seeking dismissal for lack of standing and failure to prosecute. The court also said the pending motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim would be treated as withdrawn without prejudice to renewal after the trustee’s substitution or a determination that Monplaisir could continue the case, unless the City objected by April 25, 2025.
Judge Liman denied Monplaisir’s request to seal the bankruptcy petition attached to the defendants’ filing because the petition was already publicly available and the court found that the privacy interests described did not overcome the public-access presumption. The Clerk was directed to close three docket entries, mail the order to Monplaisir, and require the City to serve the trustee.
The detailed version
- Monplaisir v. The City of New York · No. 1:24-cv-01882
- Lewis Liman
- Apr. 18, 2025
Background
Andy Monplaisir, the plaintiff, informed the court that he and his wife had filed a petition for relief under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court. The defendants confirmed the bankruptcy filing and attached the petition to their letter to the court.
The court explained that, when a person files a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, the person’s legal and equitable interests in property become property of the bankruptcy estate. Those interests include causes of action the person owned when the bankruptcy case began. The bankruptcy trustee is generally the proper party in interest—that is, the party legally entitled to pursue the claim—and the debtor generally loses standing, meaning the legal ability to litigate the claim personally.
Monplaisir suggested that the trustee might have abandoned the claim. The court stated that a trustee may abandon estate property only after notice and a hearing in the bankruptcy court, and that Monplaisir had provided no evidence that a proper abandonment had occurred.
Trustee’s Opportunity to Join or Replace the Plaintiff
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(a)(3) generally prevents dismissal for failure to name the real party in interest until the court allows a reasonable time for that party to join or be substituted. The court gave the trustee until October 17, 2025, to join or be substituted into the action as the real party in interest.
The court stated that, if the trustee did not timely move to join or be substituted, it would entertain a defendants’ motion to dismiss for lack of standing and failure to prosecute. Monplaisir would have an opportunity to respond, including by identifying whether the bankruptcy court had properly approved an abandonment.
Pending Motion to Dismiss
Unless the City filed an objection by April 25, 2025, the court would deem the pending motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim withdrawn without prejudice to renewal after the trustee was substituted or the court determined that the case could be maintained by Monplaisir. The order therefore did not decide the merits of that pending motion to dismiss.
Request to Seal the Bankruptcy Petition
Monplaisir also sought to seal the copy of his bankruptcy petition attached to the defendants’ filing. The court noted that bankruptcy filings are generally public records, subject to limited exceptions, and that sealing requires a sufficiently strong justification. Because the petition had already been filed publicly, remained unsealed, and was available on the bankruptcy court’s docket, the court concluded that Monplaisir’s privacy interests did not outweigh the presumption of public access. The court denied the request to seal the appended bankruptcy petition.
Other Directions and Disposition
The Clerk of Court was directed to close Docket Numbers 23, 39, and to mail a copy of the order to Monplaisir at his last known address. The City was directed to serve the order on the bankruptcy trustee and file proof of service. The order was issued by Judge Lewis J. Liman on April 18, 2025.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.