Herbert v. Jones
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04783
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Herbert v. Jones, Chief Judge Swain dismissed the duplicate lawsuit without prejudice to Herbert’s pending case and waived its filing fee.
Jeremiah F. Herbert’s duplicate lawsuit was dismissed, while his identical pending case under docket number 25-CV-4578 was not dismissed by this order. The order also affected the filing-fee treatment of this lawsuit and any appeal.
What happened
In Herbert v. Jones, Jeremiah F. Herbert, representing himself, sued under a federal civil-rights law, claiming that defendants violated his constitutional rights during his 2024 incarceration at Green Haven Correctional Facility. The court said the complaint was identical to one already pending under docket number 25-CV-4578.
The court dismissed this lawsuit as duplicative, without prejudice to Herbert’s pending case. It directed the Clerk of Court not to charge the $350 filing fee and barred deductions or holds against Herbert’s prison trust account for this lawsuit.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Herbert v. Jones · No. 1:25-cv-04783
- Laura Swain
- July 1, 2025
Background
Jeremiah F. Herbert, who was incarcerated at Five Points Correctional Facility, filed this lawsuit without a lawyer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a federal law allowing claims against state actors for violations of constitutional rights. He alleged that defendants violated his constitutional rights during his 2024 incarceration at Green Haven Correctional Facility.
Reason for dismissal
The court stated that Herbert had previously submitted the identical complaint, which was pending before Judge Philip M. Halpern under docket number 25-CV-4578. Because this lawsuit raised the same claims, the court concluded that filing and litigating the duplicate case would serve no useful purpose. It dismissed the complaint as duplicative, without prejudice to Herbert’s pending case under docket number 25-CV-4578.
Fees and appeal
The court directed the Clerk of Court not to charge Herbert the $350 filing fee for this action. It also directed that the official responsible for Herbert’s custody not deduct or place a hold on funds in his prison trust account for this lawsuit. The court certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying the appeal fee.
Disposition
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed Herbert’s complaint as duplicative. The order did not decide the underlying constitutional claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.