Moore v. Manhattan District Attorneys Office

Background Moore, who was incarcerated at Mid-State Correctional Facility and proceeded without a lawyer, brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a federal civil-rights statute. He asserted claims against the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office concerning his criminal proceedings in New York County.

The court noted that Moore had already filed a substantially similar complaint against the same defendant arising from the same criminal proceedings. That earlier related proceeding was pending before Judge McMahon under docket number 1:19-CV-08940 (CM). The opinion also noted that Moore had brought another prior action concerning the Manhattan District Attorney that had been dismissed as frivolous.

Ruling Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed this complaint as duplicative. The dismissal was without prejudice to Moore’s pending case under docket number 1:19-CV-08940 (CM). The court stated that, if Moore wanted to modify the claims asserted in that pending case, he could do so there to the extent permitted by Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which governs amendments to pleadings.

The court directed the Clerk of Court to mail Moore a copy of the order and record service on the docket. It also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied status allowing an appeal without payment of the filing fee.