Rush v. Annucci
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-01165
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Rush v. Annucci, Judge McMahon dismissed the duplicate lawsuit without prejudice and waived its filing fee.
Basheen Rush, the defendants, and the officials responsible for handling Rush’s prison account. The dismissal leaves Rush’s substantially similar pending action under case number 19-CV-11830 (CM) unaffected.
What happened
In Rush v. Annucci, Basheen Rush, who was incarcerated and representing himself, sued prison officials under a civil-rights law and a religious-liberty statute. He alleged that officials burdened his Shi’a Muslim religious practices and refused to provide meals without onions despite his onion allergy.
The court found that Rush had already filed a substantially similar lawsuit against the same defendants, which was still pending under case number 19-CV-11830 (CM). The court said further litigation of this duplicate lawsuit would serve no useful purpose.
Judge McMahon dismissed this action without prejudice to Rush’s pending lawsuit. The court also ordered that Rush would not be charged the filing fee for this action and that no money would be taken from his prison account for it. The court denied permission to appeal without paying the appeal fee.
The detailed version
- Rush v. Annucci · No. 1:20-cv-01165
- Colleen McMahon
- Feb. 24, 2020
Background
Basheen Rush, who was incarcerated at Orleans Correctional Facility and represented himself, brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a federal civil-rights law, and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. He alleged that prison officials at multiple correctional facilities burdened the exercise of his Shi’a Muslim religion and denied him onion-free meals to accommodate his onion allergy.
Reason for Dismissal
The court stated that Rush had submitted a substantially similar complaint in a pending action, case number 19-CV-11830 (CM). The court found that the two actions raised the same claims against the same defendants. Because further litigation of this duplicate lawsuit would serve no useful purpose, the court dismissed this action as duplicative.
Disposition
Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the complaint without prejudice to Rush’s pending action under case number 19-CV-11830 (CM). The Clerk was directed not to charge Rush the $350 filing fee for this action, and the official having custody of Rush was directed not to deduct or encumber funds from his prison trust account for this lawsuit. All other pending matters were terminated. The court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the appeal fee. The opinion does not decide the merits of Rush’s religious-practice or meal-accommodation claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.