Williams v. The City of New York
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-01628
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Williams v. The City of New York, Chief Judge McMahon dismissed this duplicative civil-rights action without prejudice.
Alexander Williams Jr.’s duplicative lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice; the opinion states that his identical action under docket number 1:20-CV-0516 (MKV) remained pending.
What happened
Williams v. The City of New York involved Alexander Williams Jr., who was representing himself and brought a civil-rights lawsuit under federal law against the City and other defendants.
The court said Williams had already filed an identical complaint in a separate case pending before Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil under docket number 1:20-CV-0516 (MKV). Because the cases raised the same claims, the court found no useful purpose in continuing this lawsuit.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed this action without prejudice as duplicative, leaving the dismissal tied to Williams’s pending case. The court also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying appeal fees.
The detailed version
- Williams v. The City of New York · No. 1:20-cv-01628
- Colleen McMahon
- Feb. 27, 2020
Background
Alexander Williams Jr., who was held at Manhattan Detention Complex and represented himself, filed an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a federal law allowing certain civil-rights claims against government actors. The defendants included The City of New York and other defendants.
Reason for dismissal
The court stated that Williams had previously submitted an identical complaint, which began a civil action pending before Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil under docket number 1:20-CV-0516 (MKV). Because the present complaint raised the same claims, the court concluded that no useful purpose would be served by litigating this duplicative lawsuit.
Ruling
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed this action without prejudice to Williams’s pending action under docket number 1:20-CV-0516 (MKV). The order therefore dismissed this lawsuit as duplicative rather than deciding the underlying civil-rights claims. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.