McDaniel v. The People of the City of New York
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-00254
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 8
In McDaniel v. The People, Judge McMahon ordered Curtis McDaniel to explain why his potentially duplicate lawsuit should not be dismissed.
Curtis McDaniel, a detained plaintiff without a lawyer, was required to respond to the court’s duplicative-case order and address the missing fee-waiver and prisoner-authorization forms. The defendants were not required to take action in this order.
What happened
McDaniel v. The People of the State of New York concerns Curtis McDaniel’s claims of false arrest, malicious prosecution, and excessive force. He sued several judges, prosecutors, police officers, and emergency-service officers for money damages while detained at Rikers Island and without a lawyer.
McDaniel had not paid the filing fee or submitted the forms required to request a fee waiver for a detained person. The court found that he had two other pending cases involving many of the same people and allegations, so it ordered him to explain within 30 days why this case should not be dismissed as duplicative.
Judge Colleen McMahon did not dismiss the case in this order. She warned that failure to respond would result in dismissal without prejudice and stated that McDaniel would not be charged the filing fee if that occurred; she also denied fee-waiver status for an appeal.
The detailed version
- McDaniel v. The People of the City of New York · No. 1:20-cv-00254
- Colleen McMahon
- Feb. 3, 2020
Background
Curtis McDaniel, who was detained at Rikers Island and was proceeding without a lawyer, filed a 53-page handwritten complaint seeking money damages. He alleged false arrest, malicious prosecution, and excessive force. The defendants named in the complaint included “The People of the City of New York,” Judges A. Drysdale, Ann D. Thompson, and Richard Tsai; Assistant District Attorney C. Rivet; Detective J. Quitty; Police Officers Kenneth Faulkner and Daniel Howell; two unidentified police officers; and Emergency Service Unit Officers Patrick Fanning and Bobby Wilkins, along with three unidentified emergency-service officers.
McDaniel had not submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees or the required authorization for deductions from a prisoner account, and he had not paid the filing fee. The court noted that McDaniel had filed two other cases in the Southern District of New York involving many of the same individuals and some of the same allegations. In one earlier related proceeding, the court had allowed him to file a second amended complaint. In the other, Magistrate Judge Cott had stayed the case while the Civilian Complaint Review Board conducted an investigation.
Court’s Action
The court directed McDaniel to show cause—meaning to explain—within 30 days why this action should not be dismissed as duplicative of the two pending cases. The court attached a declaration form, an application to proceed without paying fees in advance, and a prisoner authorization form. It stated that, if McDaniel submitted the fee-waiver application and the court granted it, he would still be charged the $350 filing fee under the applicable statute. If the action were dismissed as duplicative, the clerk would not charge that fee or permit deductions from his prison account for this lawsuit.
The court stated that if McDaniel failed to respond within 30 days, it would dismiss the action without prejudice and would not charge the $350 filing fee. The court did not dismiss the action in this order. It also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Read the full 8-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.