7 West 21 LI LLC v. Mosseri
- John Cronan
- 1:20-cv-00279
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In 7 West 21 LI LLC v. Mosseri, Judge Cronan denied recusal and stay requests and moved the conference to February 10 by video.
Defendant Clement Mosseri and the parties to the case were affected: the court denied Mosseri’s requests for recusal and a stay, and rescheduled the initial pretrial conference with video participation and possible accommodations.
What happened
In 7 West 21 LI LLC v. Mosseri, Defendant Clement Mosseri asked the court to remove Judge John P. Cronan from the case and pause the proceedings. Mosseri also said a hearing condition prevented him from attending the scheduled January 20, 2021, initial conference.
Mosseri argued that Judge Cronan’s previous employment with the Department of Justice raised questions about his fairness. He also suggested, without supporting facts, that private consultations had occurred and that the case had been improperly assigned. The court understood his request for a pause as a request to wait for an appeal.
Judge Cronan denied both the request to remove him and the request to pause the case. The court found Mosseri’s allegations unsupported and noted that no appealable final order had been issued. It moved the initial conference to February 10, 2021, by video and allowed Mosseri to request further reasonable accommodations.
The detailed version
- 7 West 21 LI LLC v. Mosseri · No. 1:20-cv-00279
- John Cronan
- Jan. 19, 2021
Background
Defendant Clement Mosseri, who was representing himself, filed a motion seeking two forms of relief: recusal of Judge John P. Cronan and a stay, meaning a pause, of the case. Mosseri also informed the court that a hearing condition prevented him from participating in the initial pretrial conference scheduled for January 20, 2021.
Recusal request
The court applied 28 U.S.C. § 455, which requires a federal judge to step aside when the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned or when specified circumstances exist. Mosseri argued that Judge Cronan’s previous employment with the Department of Justice created a question about impartiality because, according to Mosseri, an important issue in the case involved requiring the government to change one of its rules.
The court held that this argument did not justify recusal. Mosseri did not claim that Judge Cronan had participated in this case before it was assigned to him, or that he had expressed an opinion about the case’s issues. The court also found Mosseri’s assertions about alleged private consultations and improper assignment of the case conclusory, speculative, and unsupported by evidence. The court therefore denied the Motion for Recusal.
Stay request
Mosseri argued that the case should be stayed until constitutional and federal questions were addressed by an impartial court and referred to a possible appeal. The court interpreted this as a request to stay the case while an appeal was pending.
The court stated that it had issued no appealable final order. It also noted that Mosseri had not requested certification of any order for an immediate appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). Because an appeal from a nonfinal order would not remove the district court’s authority over the case, the court found no basis for a stay and denied the request for a stay.
Scheduling and accommodation
The court adjourned the initial pretrial conference from January 20, 2021, to February 10, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. The conference was to take place by video to accommodate Mosseri’s hearing condition. The court directed Mosseri to notify it by letter at least two weeks before the conference if he needed additional reasonable accommodations. The Clerk of Court was directed to mail a copy of the order to Mosseri.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.