Ngambo v. Bank of America
- Nelson Roman
- 7:20-cv-02221
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 21
In Ngambo v. Bank of America, Judge Roman denied without prejudice Ngambo’s discovery and summary-judgment motions because discovery was incomplete and pretrial procedures were not yet set.
The order affected pro se plaintiff Jules Ngambo’s requests for discovery relief and summary judgment against Bank of America. Both motions were denied without prejudice, so the order did not resolve the underlying claims.
What happened
In Ngambo v. Bank of America, pro se plaintiff Jules Ngambo asked the court to compel Bank of America to respond to his discovery requests. He also asked for summary judgment, arguing that the bank had admitted the elements of his credit-reporting case.
The court denied the motion to compel without prejudice because it should be directed to Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy after the court issues an order referring the case to her for general pretrial matters. The court also denied the summary-judgment motion without prejudice because discovery was not complete; any renewed motion would require the court’s permission.
Judge Nelson Roman directed the Clerk to terminate both motions, which were filed as ECF Nos. 13 and 14, and to mail the endorsement to Ngambo.
The detailed version
- Ngambo v. Bank of America · No. 7:20-cv-02221
- Nelson Roman
- June 15, 2021
Background
Pro se plaintiff Jules Ngambo filed two motions without first seeking permission from the court. One motion asked the court to compel Bank of America to comply with discovery requests. The requests included admissions and production of documents concerning credit-reporting information, alleged debts, investigations, disputes, and related records. Bank of America responded to the requests for admission by objecting that they sought legal conclusions and denying each request.
Ngambo’s second motion sought summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In that motion, he argued that Bank of America had admitted every element of his case concerning allegedly inaccurate credit-report information, failure to respond to a dispute, failure to identify the accounts as disputed, and failure to conduct a proper investigation. He requested damages and punitive damages, but the opinion did not decide whether he was entitled to them.
Court’s Rulings
The court denied Ngambo’s motion to compel without prejudice to renewing it after the court issued an order of reference assigning general pretrial matters to Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy. The court stated that the discovery motion should be directed to Judge McCarthy after that referral.
The court denied Ngambo’s motion for summary judgment without prejudice because discovery had not yet been completed. The court stated that Ngambo could renew the motion after discovery was completed, but only with leave of the court.
The Clerk was directed to terminate the motions at ECF Nos. 13 and 14 and to mail a copy of the endorsement to Ngambo at the address listed on the docket. The opinion did not resolve the merits of Ngambo’s underlying credit-reporting claims.
Read the full 21-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.