Vega v. Department of Corrections

Background

Justin Vega filed a complaint naming the City of New York and unidentified John and Jane Doe staff members associated with the City’s Department of Corrections. On September 20, 2021, the court ordered the New York City Law Department to help identify the unnamed defendants. This type of identification order is based on Valentin v. Dinkins and assists a plaintiff who does not yet know the names of defendants.

The order concerned three groups of unidentified staff: medical and correctional staff whom Vega alleged denied his requests for sick call during the two weeks after his May 5, 2021 fall, and maintenance staff whom he alleged ignored work orders concerning sink number 5 in Dorm 4 Upper at AMKC. The City first requested an extension of time, which the court granted. The City later renewed its request, asked to be excused from complying with parts of the identification order, and made another extension request. Vega objected and said he had provided information to the City Law Department.

March 1, 2022 status conference

At a status conference, the City Law Department represented that it had learned the names of the relevant maintenance and medical staff. It said it lacked enough information to identify the correctional officers. Vega clarified that he sought the names of the supervisory correctional officers responsible for responding to sick-call requests during the weeks of May 6 and May 11, 2021.

Ruling

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil denied the City’s requests for extensions of time to comply with the identification order and its requests to be excused from that order. The court ordered the City, by March 4, 2022, to provide Vega with the names of the maintenance staff who addressed the sink orders and the medical staff who attended to him during the two weeks after May 5, 2021. The City also had to file copies of its communications disclosing that information.

The court separately ordered the City, by March 18, 2022, to investigate and provide the names of the supervisors in the correctional-officer rank who were responsible for responding to inmate requests for medical attention during the relevant two-week period, and to file a copy of its communication to Vega. Vega was ordered to amend his complaint by April 18, 2022, to name the identified individuals instead of the John and Jane Doe defendants.

The court warned the City that the case had been unreasonably prolonged and that failure to follow the court’s orders could result in sanctions. The Clerk was directed to mail the order to Vega, who was proceeding without a lawyer, and to close the letter motions at ECF Nos. 14 and 18. The opinion did not decide the merits of Vega’s underlying claims.