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 denied Terri Simmons’s request for counsel as moot because she had already responded to the dismissal motion.
Terri Simmons’s request for appointed counsel was denied as moot. The order did not decide the defendants’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint or the underlying claims.
What happened
In Simmons v. City of Mount Vernon, Terri Simmons asked the court to appoint free legal counsel to help her respond to the defendants’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint. She was representing herself and had been allowed to proceed without paying court fees.
Simmons had already filed her response before the court considered her request. The court therefore denied the request as moot. It said it could consider a broader request for counsel later, if appropriate, after deciding the defendants’ motion to dismiss.
Judge Vincent L. Briccetti directed the Clerk to terminate the motion and certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith, denying Simmons permission to proceed without paying fees for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Simmons v. City of Mount Vernon · No. 7:19-cv-10388
- Vincent Briccetti
- May 12, 2021
Background
Terri Simmons, identified in the caption as the parent and guardian on behalf of her son, was proceeding without a lawyer and without paying court fees. She filed a motion for appointment of pro bono counsel—free legal representation—to assist her in responding to the defendants’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint.
Simmons filed her response to the motion to dismiss one day after filing the request for counsel.
Ruling
The court denied the request for appointed counsel as moot because Simmons had already responded to the defendants’ motion to dismiss. The court stated that, to the extent Simmons sought counsel for the broader conduct of the case, it would consider that request, if appropriate, after deciding the defendants’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint.
The Clerk was instructed to terminate the motion, identified as Document 45. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.