Lopez v. The City Of New York

Background

Mariah Lopez proceeded without a lawyer and was allowed to proceed without paying the court’s filing fees. She sued the City of New York; the Department of Homeless Services; the NYC Human Resources Administration; the NYC Department of Social Services; and Judge Carol Sharpe.

On the same day, Lopez filed another substantially similar complaint, docket number 25-CV-3441 (LTS), referred to by the court as Lopez I. That case named the City and the three agencies as defendants. Although Judge Sharpe was not listed in Lopez I’s caption, she was identified as a defendant in the body of that complaint. Both complaints sought, among other relief, an order declaring that Judge Sharpe had exceeded her constitutional authority.

Ruling

The court dismissed this complaint without prejudice as duplicative of the claims pending in Lopez I. The court explained that no useful purpose would be served by litigating a duplicate lawsuit. It stated that, under Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Lopez could amend Lopez I to add allegations or claims that appeared in this complaint but not in Lopez I. The court directed that further filings supporting Lopez’s claims be made in docket number 25-CV-3441 (LTS).

The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying filing fees for purposes of an appeal. It directed the clerk to enter a civil judgment in this matter.