MacDonald v. Secretary Department of Corrections
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-09100
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In MacDonald v. Secretary Department of Corrections, Judge Swain terminated two motions because the case had transferred, and denied fee-free appeal status.
Jason MacDonald’s two motions in the Southern District of New York were terminated; any requested relief must be pursued in the action pending in the Northern District of Florida.
What happened
In MacDonald v. Secretary Department of Corrections, the court had already transferred the action to the Northern District of Florida and closed it in the Southern District of New York.
Jason MacDonald then filed motions seeking district-court addresses and permission to file an amended complaint in the Southern District of New York. Because the action was closed there, the court directed the clerk to terminate both motions and said any requested relief could be sought in the case pending in Florida.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- MacDonald v. Secretary Department of Corrections · No. 1:24-cv-09100
- Laura Swain
- June 3, 2025
Background
On December 18, 2024, the court transferred this action to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The Clerk’s Office electronically transferred the action on January 2, 2025.
After the transfer, Jason MacDonald filed two motions in the Southern District of New York: one requesting “All U.S. District Court addresses,” docketed at ECF 9, and one seeking permission to file an amended complaint, docketed at ECF 11.
Ruling
Because the action was closed in the Southern District of New York, the court directed the Clerk of Court to terminate both motions. The court stated that any relief MacDonald seeks may be addressed through submissions filed in the action pending in the Northern District of Florida.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The order did not address the merits of the underlying action or the requested amended complaint.
Effect
The order ended the handling of these two motions in the Southern District of New York. It did not state that the action pending in the Northern District of Florida was terminated.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.