Torres v. City of New York
- Edgardo Ramos
- 1:19-cv-06332
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Torres v. City of New York, Judge Ramos denied Torres’s moot motion to compel after the remaining unidentified people were identified.
The ruling affected Wilfredo Torres’s motion to compel responses from the City of New York and New York City Health and Hospitals. It did not decide the underlying constitutional-rights claims.
What happened
Wilfredo Torres, representing himself, sued the City of New York, New York City Health and Hospitals, and others over alleged constitutional-rights violations during an apartment raid and later hospitalization. The court had directed the City and Health and Hospitals to identify people initially listed as John Does.
Torres asked the court to require a response to that identification order. The City and Health and Hospitals later complied, and Health and Hospitals identified Dr. Steven Issley as the doctor Torres had tried to identify as Dr. Steven Lasley.
Because all of the John Does had been identified, the court ruled that Torres’s motion to compel was moot and denied it. Judge Edgardo Ramos directed the Clerk to terminate the motion and mail Torres a copy of the order.
The detailed version
- Torres v. City of New York · No. 1:19-cv-06332
- Edgardo Ramos
- Mar. 19, 2021
Background
Wilfredo Torres, proceeding without a lawyer, brought this action against the City of New York, New York City Health and Hospitals, and several people initially identified as John Does. The complaint alleged constitutional-rights violations during a raid of Torres’s apartment and his subsequent hospitalization at Bellevue Hospital.
On February 7, 2020, the court issued an order under Valentin v. Dinkins directing the City and New York City Health and Hospitals to identify the John Does. On August 4, 2020, Torres moved to compel a response to that order. By September 10, 2020, the City and New York City Health and Hospitals had complied.
Torres later filed a second amended complaint naming Dr. Steven Lasley. The summons for Dr. Lasley was returned unexecuted because Bellevue Hospital reported that it had no record of him. The court then directed New York City Health and Hospitals to identify the second doctor who had examined Torres and whom Torres had attempted to identify as Dr. Lasley. On February 26, 2021, New York City Health and Hospitals identified that doctor as Dr. Steven Issley.
Ruling
The court held that all John Does had been identified. As a result, Torres’s motion to compel no longer presented a live issue and was moot. The court therefore denied the motion to compel.
Judge Edgardo Ramos directed the Clerk to terminate the motion, docket entry 58, and mail a copy of the order to Torres. The order addressed only the motion to compel; the opinion did not decide the underlying constitutional-rights claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.