Jeffrey v. City of New York

Background

Samuel Jeffrey sued the City of New York, Jane Doe, and John Doe. The opinion states that the incident underlying his claims occurred on October 22, 2015, and that he filed the complaint on March 22, 2019. The opinion does not describe the underlying incident or the specific allegations in the complaint.

Motion and Plaintiff’s Failure to Respond

The defendants moved to dismiss the complaint on October 21, 2019. On January 2, 2020, the court ordered Jeffrey, who was represented by counsel, to respond by January 10 and warned that failing to file an opposition would cause the court to treat the motion as unopposed. Notice was electronically mailed to his counsel. Jeffrey did not file an opposition or otherwise respond.

The court held that by failing to address any of the defendants’ arguments, Jeffrey had abandoned his claims. It cited decisions dismissing claims as abandoned when a plaintiff did not respond to arguments supporting dismissal.

Statute-of-Limitations Ruling

The court also stated that the claims were independently time-barred. It explained that civil-rights actions under Section 1983 filed in New York have a three-year statute of limitations. Because more than three years passed between the October 22, 2015 incident and the March 22, 2019 filing, the court concluded that the Section 1983 claims were time-barred.

The court further explained that New York General Municipal Law § 50-i requires state tort claims against a municipal entity or its employees acting within the scope of employment to be filed within one year and 90 days after the claim accrues. It concluded that the state-law claims were also filed too late.

Disposition

The court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss. It directed the Clerk of Court to dismiss the complaint with prejudice and mark the case closed.