Serrano v. Adams
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04757
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Victoria Marie Serrano v. Mayor Adams, Chief Judge Swain dismissed the duplicate complaint without prejudice and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
Victoria Marie Serrano’s separate lawsuit against Mayor Adams and New York State was dismissed as duplicative, while her pending case under No. 25-CV-918 (LTS) was not dismissed by this order.
What happened
In Victoria Marie Serrano v. Mayor Adams; New York State, Victoria Marie Serrano sued Mayor Adams and New York State over unspecified events allegedly occurring between 2021 and 2025. She represented herself.
The court said Serrano had already filed a case against New York State involving unspecified events during the same period, and that case remained pending under docket number 25-CV-918 (LTS). Because this lawsuit also named New York State and appeared to involve the same events, the court found it duplicative.
The court dismissed this complaint without prejudice to the pending case and said Serrano could seek to add claims or defendants to that case under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied status to appeal without paying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Serrano v. Adams · No. 1:25-cv-04757
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 26, 2025
Background
Victoria Marie Serrano, who was representing herself, filed a complaint against Mayor Adams and New York State. The opinion says the complaint arose from unspecified events allegedly occurring between 2021 and 2025.
The court noted that Serrano had previously filed a complaint against New York State involving unspecified events during the same period. That earlier case was pending under docket number 25-CV-918 (LTS). The court determined that this lawsuit also named New York State and appeared to arise from events beginning in 2021 and continuing to the present.
Court’s reasoning
The court explained that a plaintiff generally may not maintain two separate lawsuits in the same court against the same defendant concerning the same subject matter at the same time. District courts have discretion to dismiss a later-filed case that duplicates an earlier pending proceeding. The court concluded that litigating this duplicate lawsuit would serve no useful purpose.
Ruling
The court dismissed the complaint as duplicative of No. 25-CV-918 (LTS), without prejudice to Serrano’s pending case. The court stated that, consistent with Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Serrano could amend the pending case to assert other claims or name other defendants connected to the events described in her submissions.
The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Serrano permission to proceed on appeal without paying filing fees. The Clerk was directed to enter judgment dismissing this case without prejudice. The ruling was issued by Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.