Williams v. D.O.C.C.S.
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-02960
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Tearre Williams v. D.O.C.C.S., Judge Swain transferred Five Points claims and dismissed Green Haven claims without prejudice.
Tearre Williams’s claims arising from alleged events at Five Points Correctional Facility were transferred to the Western District of New York, while his Green Haven Correctional Facility claims were dismissed without prejudice to a related pending matter.
What happened
In Tearre Williams v. D.O.C.C.S., Tearre Williams, representing himself, alleged that his constitutional rights were violated at Five Points Correctional Facility and Green Haven Correctional Facility. He sought money damages and video evidence.
The court transferred the claims involving Five Points to the Western District of New York because that facility is in that district. It dismissed the Green Haven claims without prejudice because they overlapped with claims in another pending case, docket number 25-CV-6859. The order allowed Williams to add claims or defendants in that other case consistent with the rules.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The clerk was directed to transfer the action and enter judgment dismissing the case in the Southern District of New York.
The detailed version
- Williams v. D.O.C.C.S. · No. 1:25-cv-02960
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 9, 2025
Background
Tearre Williams paid the filing fees and brought this civil-rights action without a lawyer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. His amended complaint named the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, referred to as DOCCS, as the only defendant. Williams alleged that, on multiple dates in 2024, he was called a racial slur, assaulted by a gang, sexually assaulted, robbed, and denied food. He said two incidents occurred at Green Haven Correctional Facility and three occurred at Five Points Correctional Facility, but he did not identify the dates, locations, or people involved in each incident. He requested money damages and to “recover video.”
Five Points claims
The court concluded that venue—the proper federal court location for the claims—appeared improper in the Southern District of New York for the Five Points allegations. Those events occurred at Five Points in Romulus, New York, in Seneca County, which is in the Western District of New York. Applying 28 U.S.C. § 1406, the court transferred Williams’s Five Points claims to the United States District Court for the Western District of New York in the interest of justice. The court noted that the transfer order did not prevent Williams from seeking to amend his complaint in the Western District of New York to add individual defendants, if the amendment complied with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Green Haven claims
The court found that the Green Haven allegations overlapped with claims in another pending action, docket number 25-CV-6859, involving substantially similar conditions-of-confinement allegations from the same general period. Because litigating both cases would serve no useful purpose, the court dismissed the Green Haven claims without prejudice to the matter pending under that docket number. The court stated that Williams could seek to include other claims or defendants related to these events by amending the complaint in that other action, consistent with the applicable procedural rules.
Disposition
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the clerk to transfer the action to the Western District of New York and enter judgment dismissing the case in the Southern District of New York. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the required fees. The opinion does not decide whether Williams’s underlying constitutional claims are valid.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.