Jones v. City Of New York

Background

Henry Jones brought claims against the City of New York, Officer Ruben Serrano, and Officer Daniel Ryan. He alleged that the individual defendants falsely arrested and imprisoned him in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, maliciously prosecuted him under New York law and § 1983, and deprived him of a federal right to a fair trial. He also alleged that the City was responsible for the individual defendants’ alleged malicious prosecution.

Motions and recommendation

The individual defendants moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(5), arguing that they had not been properly served. Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker had granted Jones an extension of time to serve them and recommended denying that motion with prejudice.

The City moved for summary judgment, which asks the court to decide a claim when the required facts are not genuinely disputed. Judge Parker recommended denying the City’s motion without prejudice because the motion was based primarily on the alleged failure to serve the individual defendants. No objections were filed to the Report and Recommendation.

Ruling

Because there were no objections, Judge Daniels reviewed the recommendation for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake after reviewing the record. Finding no clear error, he adopted Judge Parker’s Report and Recommendation in full. The court denied the City’s summary-judgment motion without prejudice and denied the individual defendants’ Rule 12(b)(5) motion with prejudice. The clerk was directed to close the motions. The opinion does not state that the court decided the underlying false-arrest, malicious-prosecution, or fair-trial claims.