Griffin-Robinson v. Warhit
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-03040
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Griffin-Robinson v. Warhit, Judge McMahon moved the plaintiff’s later complaint into her earlier case, closed this case administratively, and denied fee-free appeal status.
The plaintiff, Sonja R. Griffin-Robinson, and the defendants in this action were affected because the later complaint was moved into the earlier case and this case was administratively closed.
What happened
In Griffin-Robinson v. Warhit, the plaintiff filed a 19-page complaint on March 30, 2020, and then filed a substantially similar 81-page complaint as a new case on April 13, 2020. The later complaint mainly added exhibits.
Because the plaintiff was representing herself, the court directed the Clerk to treat the later complaint as an updated complaint in the earlier case, using April 13, 2020, as its filing date. The court also directed the Clerk to close this case administratively.
Judge Colleen McMahon further ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied the plaintiff permission to appeal without paying court fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Griffin-Robinson v. Warhit · No. 1:20-cv-03040
- Colleen McMahon
- Apr. 22, 2020
Background
The plaintiff filed a 19-page complaint on March 30, 2020, in an earlier action. On April 13, 2020, she filed an 81-page complaint that was opened as this separate action. The court reviewed both complaints and found them substantially similar, with the main significant difference being that the complaint in this action included additional exhibits. The court therefore concluded that the plaintiff appeared to have intended to file the later complaint as an amended complaint—an updated version of the earlier complaint—instead of starting a new case.
Rulings
Because the plaintiff was proceeding without a lawyer, the court directed the Clerk of Court to file the complaint from this action as an amended complaint in the earlier action, with a filing date of April 13, 2020. The court also directed the Clerk to administratively close this case. Administrative closure handled the duplicate filing but did not resolve the underlying claims in the opinion.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied the plaintiff permission to appeal without paying court fees. The order does not state that the underlying claims were dismissed or decided.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.