Simmons v. City of Mount Vernon
- Vincent Briccetti
- 7:19-cv-10388
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Simmons v. City of Mount Vernon, Judge Briccetti gave Terri Simmons a final deadline to amend or face judgment dismissing the case.
Terri Simmons was given a final deadline to amend her complaint or request more time. The defendants were affected because the court warned that failure to meet the deadline would lead to a judgment dismissing the case.
What happened
In Simmons v. City of Mount Vernon, the court said it had previously granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss Terri Simmons’s complaint. Simmons was proceeding without a lawyer and without paying filing fees.
Simmons did not file an amended complaint by the earlier deadline. The court also noted that the lawyer who had requested more time had not formally entered the case.
Judge Briccetti extended the deadline to February 26, 2021, and called it the final extension. The court said it would treat the case as abandoned and enter judgment dismissing it if Simmons did not amend the complaint or request more time by then. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal from this order.
The detailed version
- Simmons v. City of Mount Vernon · No. 7:19-cv-10388
- Vincent Briccetti
- Jan. 25, 2021
Background
The court stated that, on September 9, 2020, it had granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss Terri Simmons’s complaint and had mailed Simmons a copy of that decision. The opinion describes Simmons as proceeding without a lawyer and without paying filing fees.
On December 9, 2020, Annette M. Totten, Esq., wrote that she had been retained to file an amended complaint for Simmons and requested more time. The court said it generally does not consider requests from lawyers who have not filed a formal notice of appearance in the case. Even so, because of Simmons’s status, the court extended the deadline to January 8, 2021. Simmons did not file an amended complaint by that date, and Totten did not file a notice of appearance.
Order
The court extended Simmons’s deadline again, to February 26, 2021, allowing her to file an amended complaint either without a lawyer or through counsel. It stated that this was the final extension. If Simmons did not file an amended complaint or request more time by February 26, the court said it would treat her as having abandoned the case and enter judgment dismissing it.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied Simmons permission to proceed without paying fees for an appeal from the order. The order itself did not enter the threatened dismissal judgment.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.