Dadario v. Commissioner of Social Security
- Katherine Failla
- 1:20-cv-10758
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Dadario v. Commissioner of Social Security, Judge Parker gave time for substitution after Dadario’s death before possible dismissal under Rule 25.
The order affects the deceased plaintiff’s potential successors or estate representative, who could seek substitution, and the pending Social Security case, which would be dismissed as to Dadario if no substitution motion were filed by May 30, 2022. Dadario’s parents were to receive the order.
What happened
In Dadario v. Commissioner of Social Security, the court received a letter from Robert James Dadario’s mother reporting his death and including a death certificate.
The court explained that the case could continue only if a proper successor or estate representative moved to replace Dadario. Although the court understood that his mother sought to end the case, it said the required time for a substitution motion had to be provided first.
Judge Parker ordered that the action would be dismissed as to Dadario if no substitution motion was made by May 30, 2022. The court also asked the Clerk of Court to send the order to Dadario’s parents.
The detailed version
- Dadario v. Commissioner of Social Security · No. 1:20-cv-10758
- Katherine Failla
- Mar. 1, 2022
Background
The court received a letter from Robert James Dadario’s mother reporting that Dadario had died. The letter included his death certificate. The court understood that Dadario’s mother sought to discontinue the action.
Rule and Analysis
The court applied Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(a)(1), which addresses what happens when a party dies while a case is pending. If the claim is not extinguished by the death, the court may allow substitution of a proper party. A proper party may be a successor—such as a person entitled to receive property from a distributed estate—or a legally designated representative of the estate.
The court explained that the 90-day period for seeking substitution begins when information about the death is formally placed on the court record through a “suggestion of death.” It treated the letter and death certificate as providing that information on March 1, 2022. Because Rule 25 required time for a substitution motion before dismissal, the court did not immediately dismiss the case.
Order and Effect
The court stated that if no motion for substitution was made by May 30, 2022, the action by the deceased plaintiff would be dismissed by operation of Rule 25. The court also requested that the Clerk of Court send the order to Dadario’s parents. The order did not decide the underlying Social Security dispute.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.