Brown v. National Basketball Association
- Gregory Woods
- 1:19-cv-06434
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Brown v. National Basketball Association, Judge Woods took no action on transfer emails, reaffirmed the case was closed, and denied fee-free appeal status.
Kimberly Bernice Brown, the named defendants, and any lawyer claiming to represent Brown were affected by the order’s instructions and mailing directive.
What happened
In Brown v. National Basketball Association, Kimberly Bernice Brown emailed the court asking it to transfer the lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court noted that final judgment had already been entered on January 2, 2020, and that Brown’s appeal had been dismissed on December 30, 2020.
The court took no action in response to the emails because no case remained before it to transfer. It also ordered Brown not to email the chambers email address, denied fee-free status for any appeal from this order, and directed the clerk to mail the order and specified docket documents to Brown and the defendants.
Judge Gregory H. Woods issued the order in Brown v. National Basketball Association on March 27, 2022. The order did not decide the underlying dispute between Brown and the defendants.
The detailed version
- Brown v. National Basketball Association · No. 1:19-cv-06434
- Gregory Woods
- Mar. 27, 2022
Background
Kimberly Bernice Brown sent emails to the court on March 24 and March 26, 2022. In them, she asked the court to transfer her lawsuit to the United States Supreme Court and to confirm the transfer. The opinion states that final judgment had been entered on January 2, 2020, and that Brown’s appeal had been dismissed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on December 30, 2020.
Court’s action
The court stated that it was taking no action in response to Brown’s emails. Because no case remained before the court, it said there was no case that could be transferred. The court also ordered Brown not to email the chambers email box. It explained that filings by people without lawyers could be sent by email to the address designated on the court’s website during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. It also stated that Melissa Mendoza had confirmed that she did not represent Brown in this case; if Brown was represented by counsel, the lawyer was directed to file a notice of appearance. The clerk was directed to mail the order and specified docket documents to Brown and the defendants by first-class and certified mail and record service on the docket.
Disposition
Judge Gregory H. Woods took no action on Brown’s emails, ordered her not to email chambers, and denied fee-free status for an appeal from the order. The order did not reach the merits of the underlying lawsuit.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.