Dupigny v. United States of America

Background

Hubert Dupigny, who was detained at MDC Brooklyn and proceeded without a lawyer, brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He alleged that former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elinor Torlow, Mollie Bracewell, and Jacob Gutwilling, and defense counsel Aaron Mysliwiec violated his constitutional rights in connection with his criminal proceedings.

Dupigny had already submitted a substantially similar complaint asserting the same claims against the same defendants in a case pending under No. 20-CV-5346 (CM). In that earlier related proceeding, the court directed him either to pay filing fees or submit documents to proceed without prepaying fees, and later extended his deadline twice. After Dupigny sent a letter saying he intended to pay and then submitted $400.00 with a copy of the complaint, the Clerk mistakenly opened the complaint as this new civil action rather than applying the payment to the pending case.

Ruling

The court stated that no useful purpose would be served by filing and litigating the duplicate complaint. Judge Nathan therefore dismissed this action without prejudice to Dupigny's pending action under No. 20-CV-5346 (CM). The Clerk was directed to enter judgment, close the case, and mail the order to Dupigny.

The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The opinion does not decide the merits of Dupigny's constitutional claims. A footnote states that the Clerk returned Dupigny's $400.00 money order and that he may resubmit the payment, identifying No. 20-CV-5346 (CM), so it is applied to the correct case.