Brown v. National Basketball Association
- Gregory Woods
- 1:19-cv-06434
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Brown v. National Basketball Association, Judge Woods denied as moot Brown’s jury-trial request because her claims had already been dismissed.
Kimberly Bernice Brown, whose jury-trial request was denied as moot and whose request to appeal without paying filing fees was denied.
What happened
In Kimberly Bernice Brown v. National Basketball Association, the court addressed Brown’s letter requesting a jury trial and presenting additional facts after the court had dismissed all her claims on December 26, 2019.
Brown also alleged that she had received multiple threatening calls each day from unknown numbers. The court said those allegations did not state a plausible claim against the National Basketball Association or fix the venue problem involving Tamera Young.
Judge Woods denied the request as moot because Brown’s claims had already been dismissed, and he denied her request to appeal without paying fees because the court certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Brown v. National Basketball Association · No. 1:19-cv-06434
- Gregory Woods
- Dec. 30, 2019
Background
The court had dismissed all of Kimberly Bernice Brown’s claims in an order dated December 26, 2019, and had denied as moot the outstanding motions and requests for relief. After that order was docketed, Brown sent the court a letter requesting a jury trial and alleging additional facts that occurred after she filed her Second Amended Complaint. The court addressed the letter separately because it was filed after the earlier dismissal order.
Court’s Analysis
The court stated that it must read filings by a person without a lawyer liberally and interpret them to raise the strongest claims suggested by the filing. Even so, the court applied the reasons stated in its December 26 opinion and concluded that Brown’s request was moot. Because her claims had been dismissed, she was not entitled to a jury trial.
The court also considered Brown’s allegation that she had received multiple threatening calls daily from various unknown numbers. It concluded that, even if true, those facts did not state a plausible claim for relief against the National Basketball Association and did not correct Brown’s failure to bring her claims against Tamera Young in the proper venue.
Ruling
Judge Gregory H. Woods denied the motion as moot. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and therefore denied Brown permission to appeal without paying the filing fees. The Clerk was directed to mail Brown a copy of the order and record service on the docket.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.