He v. Office of the New York City Comptroller
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:18-cv-07806
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In He v. Office of the New York City Comptroller, Judge Abrams dismissed the action without prejudice because He did not pursue it in district court.
Xuejie He’s action was dismissed without prejudice; the Office of the New York City Comptroller was the defendant. The court also terminated the pending motions and closed the case.
What happened
In He v. Office of the New York City Comptroller, Xuejie He, representing herself, filed the action in August 2018. The Office of the New York City Comptroller later moved to dismiss.
He filed notices stating that she had moved the case to the United States Supreme Court and that the district court lacked authority over the defendant’s motion. The court repeatedly ordered her to state whether she intended to continue the case there, but her responses did not indicate that she intended to do so.
The court dismissed the action without prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute, meaning failure to move the case forward or comply with a court order. Judge Ronnie Abrams also directed the clerk to terminate the pending motions and close the case.
The detailed version
- He v. Office of the New York City Comptroller · No. 1:18-cv-07806
- Ronnie Abrams
- Nov. 22, 2019
Background
Xuejie He filed the action representing herself on August 27, 2018. On August 27, 2019, the Office of the New York City Comptroller moved to dismiss. He then filed a notice stating that she had moved the case to the United States Supreme Court and asserting that this court had no authority over the defendant’s motion.
The court ordered the parties to confer and submit a joint letter about whether He intended to continue the action in the district court. After receiving the defendant’s letter, the court ordered He to state by November 8, 2019, whether she intended to pursue the case and warned that the action could be dismissed under Rule 41 for failure to prosecute. He later submitted a letter stating that she had filed a petition in the Supreme Court. The court found that the letter did not respond to its order and gave He another deadline, November 19, 2019, to confirm that she intended to pursue the action. On November 20, He filed another notice stating that she had moved the case to the Supreme Court.
Rule and Analysis
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) allows a district court to dismiss an action when a plaintiff fails to prosecute the case or comply with court rules or a court order. The court explained that it could impose that dismissal after notifying the plaintiff. Because He’s responses indicated that she did not intend to pursue the action in the district court, and because she did not state otherwise, the court applied Rule 41(b).
Disposition
The court dismissed the action without prejudice under Rule 41(b) for failure to prosecute. It directed the clerk to mail the order to He, terminate all pending motions, and close the case. The opinion does not decide the defendant’s motion to dismiss or the underlying merits of the action.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.