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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled Aug. 27, 2025

In re: Alshon Williams

Judge
Laura Swain
Docket
1:25-cv-05163
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
2
Civil ProcedurePro Se
In one sentence

In re: Alshon Williams: Judge Swain dismissed the duplicative action without prejudice and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.

Who this affects

Alshon Williams’s duplicate action was dismissed, while his claims in the earlier related action remained unaffected by this dismissal.

What happened

In re: Alshon Williams involved a complaint that repeated the claims in an earlier case by Alshon Williams, which was still pending before the same court.

The court dismissed this action without prejudice because it was duplicative. The dismissal did not bar Williams’s claims in the earlier case. The court also denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment dismissing the action and certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
In re: Alshon Williams · No. 1:25-cv-05163
Judge
Laura Swain
Date
Aug. 27, 2025

Background

Alshon Williams, who was held at the West Facility on Rikers Island and was proceeding without a lawyer, filed this action. The court stated that Williams had already filed a substantially similar complaint in an earlier related action, No. 1:25-CV-5091 (LTS), which was pending before Judge Swain.

Reason for Dismissal

The court determined that this action raised the same claims as the earlier related action. It concluded that litigating this duplicate case would serve no useful purpose.

Ruling

The court dismissed this action without prejudice as duplicative of the earlier related action. The dismissal was without prejudice to Williams’s claims in that earlier action. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees. The court directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment dismissing this action.

The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
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