Cherry v. The City of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-07497
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Cherry v. City of New York, Chief Judge Swain dismissed a duplicate civil-rights complaint without prejudice to Cherry’s pending case and ordered that no filing fee be charged.
Lamont C. Cherry’s duplicate lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, while his pending related case under docket number 25-CV-7477 (LTS) was not dismissed by this order. The order also protected his prison-account funds from deductions for this action and removed the filing-fee charge.
What happened
In Lamont C. Cherry v. The City of New York, et al., Lamont C. Cherry, who is detained on Rikers Island and is representing himself, sued under a federal civil-rights law. He alleged that the defendants violated his rights during his pretrial detention. The court said he had already filed a substantially similar case involving the same facts and defendants, which was pending under docket number 25-CV-7477 (LTS).
The court determined that filing and litigating this duplicate lawsuit would serve no useful purpose. It therefore dismissed this complaint without prejudice to Cherry’s pending case. The opinion does not decide whether Cherry’s underlying allegations are legally valid.
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to vacate an earlier order requiring Cherry to submit a prisoner authorization, and ordered that Cherry not be charged the $350 filing fee for this lawsuit. The court also directed that funds not be deducted or held from his prison account for this action, denied fee-free status for any appeal, and directed the Clerk to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- Cherry v. The City of New York · No. 1:25-cv-07497
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 17, 2025
Background
Lamont C. Cherry, who the opinion says is detained on Rikers Island, filed this action without a lawyer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a federal law used to bring certain civil-rights claims. He alleged that the defendants violated his rights during his pretrial detention.
The court stated that Cherry had previously submitted a substantially similar complaint against the same defendants based on the same set of facts. That earlier related proceeding was pending under docket number 25-CV-7477 (LTS). The court believed this complaint might have been submitted by mistake.
Court’s Analysis and Ruling
The court concluded that no useful purpose would be served by filing and litigating this duplicate lawsuit. It dismissed the complaint without prejudice to Cherry’s pending case under docket number 25-CV-7477 (LTS). Because the dismissal rested on duplication, the court did not decide the merits of Cherry’s civil-rights allegations.
The court directed the Clerk of Court to vacate the September 12, 2025 order requiring Cherry to submit a prisoner authorization. It also directed the Clerk not to charge Cherry the $350 filing fee for this action and directed the official holding him in custody not to deduct or hold funds from his prison trust account for this lawsuit.
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The court directed the Clerk to enter judgment in this action.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.