Bey v. John Doe

Background

The plaintiff sued John Doe New York Police Department officers. The opinion text states that Judge Paul A. Engelmayer had ordered the plaintiff to file an amended complaint after the City’s Law Department identified the officers who had approached the plaintiff and those who responded as backup during a June 19, 2018 incident. After the plaintiff did not file the amended complaint, Judge Wang ordered the plaintiff to do so by December 4, 2019.

An Assistant Corporation Counsel, appearing for the Office of the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York as an interested party, asked the court to dismiss the case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute. That rule allows dismissal when a plaintiff does not pursue the case or comply with a court order. The request sought dismissal with prejudice, but the court did not grant that request.

Court’s Action

The court found that it was unclear whether the plaintiff had received the earlier order because the docket appeared to show a new address. Giving the plaintiff the benefit of that uncertainty, the court granted an extension of time and required an amended complaint naming the Doe defendants by January 31, 2020. The court warned that failure to update the address or meet the deadline could result in a recommendation to dismiss for failure to prosecute.

Judge Ona T. Wang ordered that the defendants’ motion to dismiss was DENIED as moot, without prejudice to renew at a later time. The clerk was directed to close the motion and mail the order and the November 4, 2019 order to the plaintiff at the Delaware address listed in the filing. The order did not decide whether the plaintiff’s underlying claims were legally valid.