Murray v. New York State
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-00974
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Murray v. New York State, Judge McMahon administratively closed the mistakenly opened case and denied payment-free appeal status.
Jaheim Murray's newly opened case was administratively closed, while his pending earlier related proceeding was not terminated. The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Murray the docket sheet and the order. Any appeal from this order could not proceed without payment of filing fees.
What happened
In Murray v. New York State, Jaheim Murray submitted a document using a civil-rights complaint form after a case was transferred from another federal court. The document discussed an earlier related case about an assault at Downstate Correctional Facility and asked for updates after he had moved facilities.
The court determined that Murray's submission was a request for information about the earlier related case, not a new lawsuit. It directed the Clerk of Court to mail him that case's docket sheet, terminate pending matters, and administratively close this case without prejudice to the pending action.
Judge Colleen McMahon also ordered that a copy of the order be mailed to Murray and certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The court therefore denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees, and this case was closed.
The detailed version
- Murray v. New York State · No. 1:20-cv-00974
- Colleen McMahon
- Feb. 12, 2020
Background
On January 21, 2020, Jaheim Murray filed a submission in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The Eastern District transferred the action to the Southern District of New York on February 3, 2020, where it was opened as a new case.
Murray used the Eastern District's civil-rights complaint form, but the court determined that his submission described an earlier related proceeding arising from an assault at Downstate Correctional Facility. Murray said he had been transferred to another facility, had sent the court letters with his new address, and had not received a response. He asked to know about updates.
Court's ruling
The court concluded that the submission was a request for an update about the earlier related proceeding, rather than a new action. The court therefore directed the Clerk of Court to mail Murray a copy of the docket sheet from that proceeding.
The court also directed the Clerk to terminate all pending matters and administratively close this case, without prejudice to the pending action. The order states that the case was closed; it does not dismiss the pending related proceeding.
Judge Colleen McMahon directed the Clerk to mail Murray a copy of the order and record service on the docket. The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees.
Classification
This is a procedural order because the court administratively closed a case that it found had been opened incorrectly and did not decide the underlying civil-rights allegations.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.