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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled Jan. 16, 2020

Valentine v. Westchester County

Judge
Vincent Briccetti
Docket
7:19-cv-02526
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
1
Civil ProcedureMotion to DismissPro Se
In one sentence

In Valentine v. Westchester County, Judge Briccetti extended Vashawn Valentine’s deadline to oppose Joseph K. Spano’s dismissal motion.

Who this affects

Vashawn Valentine received additional time to oppose Joseph K. Spano’s motion to dismiss. The order also set Spano’s reply deadline and affected Valentine’s ability to appeal this order without paying fees.

What happened

In Valentine v. Westchester County, Joseph K. Spano asked the court to dismiss Vashawn Valentine’s amended civil-rights complaint. Valentine was representing himself and had not filed a response by the original November 12, 2019 deadline.

The court extended Valentine’s deadline to respond to February 18, 2020. Spano’s reply, if any, was due February 25, 2020.

Judge Briccetti ordered that the dismissal motion would be treated as fully submitted and unopposed if Valentine did not respond by February 18. The court also denied fee-free appeal status for an appeal from this order, certifying that such an appeal would not be taken in good faith.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
Valentine v. Westchester County · No. 7:19-cv-02526
Judge
Vincent Briccetti
Date
Jan. 16, 2020

Background

Joseph K. Spano moved to dismiss Vashawn Valentine’s amended complaint in a civil-rights action brought under Section 1983, a federal law allowing certain claims against state or local officials. Spano served Valentine, who was proceeding without a lawyer, with the motion and supporting papers by regular mail on October 29, 2019. Valentine’s opposition was due November 12, 2019, but the opinion states that no response had been filed by the time of the order.

Ruling

The court extended Valentine’s time to oppose Spano’s motion to dismiss to February 18, 2020. Spano’s reply, if any, was due February 25, 2020. The court ordered that if Valentine did not respond by February 18, the motion would be deemed fully submitted and unopposed. The court did not decide the motion to dismiss in this order.

The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free appeal status. Judge Vincent L. Briccetti signed the order on January 16, 2020.

The authoritative version

Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

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