Delvalle v. Doe
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-06998
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Javier Delvalle v. John Doe, Judge Swain dismissed a duplicate civil-rights complaint without prejudice and ordered that no filing fee be charged.
Javier Delvalle’s duplicate lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, while his pending case under docket number 25-CV-6685 was not dismissed by this order. The court also protected his prison trust account from deductions for this action and did not charge the filing fee.
What happened
In Javier Delvalle v. John Doe, Javier Delvalle, who is incarcerated at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center, filed the lawsuit without a lawyer under a federal civil-rights law. He alleged that the facility’s conditions did not meet minimum standards.
The court said Delvalle had already filed a duplicate complaint raising the same claims in a separate case, docket number 25-CV-6685. The court dismissed this complaint without prejudice to that pending case, meaning this dismissal did not bar the claims from continuing in the other case.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the Clerk of Court not to charge the $350 filing fee and directed that no money be taken from Delvalle’s prison trust account for this lawsuit. Judge Swain also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith, and directed entry of a civil judgment.
The detailed version
- Delvalle v. Doe · No. 1:25-cv-06998
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 26, 2025
Background
Javier Delvalle, who is incarcerated at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center, filed this action without a lawyer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a federal statute allowing certain civil-rights claims against government actors. He alleged that his conditions of confinement at the facility did not comply with the “bare minimum standards.”
Reason for Dismissal
The court found that Delvalle had already submitted a duplicate complaint in a pending case identified by docket number 25-CV-6685 (LTS). Because the two complaints raised the same claims, the court concluded that filing and litigating this separate action would serve no useful purpose. The court therefore dismissed this complaint without prejudice to the pending case. The opinion does not decide whether Delvalle’s conditions-of-confinement claims have merit.
Other Orders
The court directed the Clerk of Court not to charge Delvalle the $350 filing fee for this action. It also ordered that the person responsible for his custody not deduct or encumber funds from his prison trust account for this lawsuit. The court certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the required fees. The Clerk was directed to enter a civil judgment.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.