Cummings v. Addie Mae Collins Community Services Inc.
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:19-cv-09839
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
Judge Abrams closed Cummings v. Addie Mae Collins after the parties reported settling in principle, allowing restoration within 30 days.
The plaintiffs and defendants in the action were affected by the discontinuance and closure of the case, subject to the stated 30-day procedure for restoration or reopening.
What happened
Cummings v. Addie Mae Collins Community Services Inc. involved plaintiffs Cynthia Cummings and others and the named defendant, along with Jane Doe defendants. The court was told that the case had been settled in principle.
The court discontinued the action without costs to any party and without prejudice to restoring it to the docket if an application was made within 30 days. It also directed the Clerk of Court to close the case.
Judge Ronnie Abrams stated that any request to reopen filed after 30 days could be denied solely because it was late. The court also said that, to retain jurisdiction to enforce a settlement, the parties had to put the settlement terms on the public record and obtain the court’s approval within the same 30-day period.
The detailed version
- Cummings v. Addie Mae Collins Community Services Inc. · No. 1:19-cv-09839
- Ronnie Abrams
- Feb. 9, 2021
Background
The opinion states that the court was informed that the case had been settled in principle. It does not describe the claims, the settlement terms, or whether a final settlement agreement had been completed.
Order
The court ordered that the action be discontinued without costs to any party and without prejudice to restoring the action to the court’s docket if an application to restore it was made within 30 days. The court warned that an application to reopen filed after that period could be denied solely because it was late. The Clerk of Court was directed to close the case.
The court further stated that if the parties wanted the court to retain jurisdiction—that is, authority to enforce a settlement agreement—the settlement’s terms had to be placed on the public record and approved by the court within the same 30-day period. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
Disposition
Judge Ronnie Abrams discontinued the action under the terms stated in the order and directed that the case be closed. The opinion does not state that the settlement itself was entered as a final judgment.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.