Comrie v. John Doe/Joe Doe
- Ho
- 1:25-cv-03360
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Comrie v. John Doe/Joe Doe, Judge Ho ordered service and identification steps in Robert Comrie’s assault-protection lawsuit.
Robert C. Comrie, the listed defendants, the New York City Department of Correction, and the New York City Law Department are affected by the service, defendant-identification, notification, and discovery directions.
What happened
Comrie v. John Doe/Joe Doe concerns Robert C. Comrie’s claim that officials failed to protect him from another detainee’s assault while he was held at the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island. He brought the case without a lawyer under a federal civil-rights law, and the court had allowed him to proceed without paying filing fees upfront.
The court asked the Eric M. Taylor Center warden, Officer Rives, and Captain John Doe to waive formal delivery of the lawsuit papers. It also directed the New York City Law Department to provide the real names of the warden and Captain John Doe within 30 days so they could be added to the case.
Judge Dale E. Ho also required the defendants to answer standard prisoner-discovery requests within 120 days after being served. The order directed court staff to notify the relevant city agencies and mail materials to Comrie; it did not decide whether his failure-to-protect allegations were legally or factually correct.
The detailed version
- Comrie v. John Doe/Joe Doe · No. 1:25-cv-03360
- Ho
- May 27, 2025
Background
Robert C. Comrie, who the opinion says is incarcerated at Clinton Correctional Facility, filed this action without a lawyer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He alleges that, while detained at the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island, the defendants failed to protect him from an assault by another detainee. The defendants listed in the caption are Warden John Doe/Joe Doe, C.O. Rives Shield #20120, and Captain John Doe Shield #4911.
The court had granted Comrie permission to proceed without prepaying filing fees. The opinion notes that prisoners must still pay the full filing fee over time even when granted that permission.
Court’s Actions
The court directed the Clerk of Court to notify the New York City Department of Correction and the New York City Law Department. The court requested that the Eric M. Taylor Center warden, Officer Rives Shield #20120, and Captain John Doe #4911 waive service of summons, which is the formal delivery of the lawsuit papers.
The court directed the New York City Law Department to provide the court and Comrie with the real names of the Eric M. Taylor Center warden and Captain John Doe #4911 within 30 days of the order. The court stated that, within 30 days after receiving that information, it would direct the Clerk to add the newly identified defendants to the complaint’s caption.
Discovery Requirement and Disposition
The court ruled that Local Civil Rule 33.2 applies. That rule requires defendants in certain prisoner cases to respond to court-ordered discovery requests. Within 120 days after service of the complaint, the defendants must serve responses to the standard interrogatories and document requests and must quote each request verbatim in their responses.
Judge Dale E. Ho entered an order of service and issued these administrative, identification, service, and discovery directions. The opinion does not decide the merits of Comrie’s failure-to-protect claim.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.