Massey v. The City of New York
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-05884
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Massey v. The City of New York, Chief Judge McMahon dismissed this duplicate civil-rights lawsuit without prejudice because similar claims were pending.
Tyrone Massey’s duplicate lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice; his related case under docket number 20-CV-5665 (GBD) was not dismissed by this order. Massey was not charged the filing fee for this action, and no funds were to be taken from his prison trust account for it.
What happened
Massey v. The City of New York involved a self-represented civil-rights lawsuit under federal law. Tyrone Massey alleged that defendants denied him medical care while he was detained at the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island.
The court found that Massey had already filed a case with substantially similar claims under case number 20-CV-5665. The earlier case included many of the same defendants, and Massey could amend it to identify an additional defendant in this lawsuit.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed this action without prejudice as duplicative, meaning the dismissal did not bar Massey’s pending related case. The court also directed that Massey not be charged the filing fee or have funds taken from his prison account for this lawsuit, and denied payment-free appeal status.
The detailed version
- Massey v. The City of New York · No. 1:20-cv-05884
- Colleen McMahon
- Aug. 17, 2020
Background
Tyrone Massey, who was incarcerated at Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Center, filed this self-represented action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He alleged that defendants denied him medical care while he was detained at the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island.
Duplicate Action
The court determined that Massey had a substantially similar case pending under docket number 20-CV-5665 (GBD). Both actions concerned an alleged denial of medical care on May 5, 2020, while Massey was detained at the George R. Vierno Center. The earlier action named the New York City Department of Correction, the City of New York, two correction officers, and two unidentified defendants. This action again named the City of New York and the Department of Correction, and also named Captain Johnson and an unidentified defendant.
The court noted that Massey had identified Captain Johnson as one of the unidentified defendants in the earlier case. Because he could amend the earlier complaint to name Captain Johnson, the court found no need to continue this duplicate lawsuit.
Ruling
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the action without prejudice as duplicative. The order did not decide whether defendants actually denied Massey medical care. All other pending matters in this action were terminated.
The court directed the Clerk of Court not to charge Massey the $350 filing fee for this action. It also directed that the official having custody of Massey not deduct or encumber money from his prison trust account for this lawsuit. The court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Massey payment-free appeal status.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.