White v. New York City Police Department
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:19-cv-07945
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Judge Engelmayer adopted a recommendation to dismiss White v. New York City Police Department for failure to prosecute and ordered the case closed.
Devin White, the self-represented plaintiff, was affected by the adopted recommendation to dismiss the case for failure to prosecute. The New York City Police Department and the other respondents were also affected by the case’s closure.
What happened
In White v. New York City Police Department, Devin White, who represented himself, filed a complaint in 2019. The court repeatedly instructed him to amend the complaint or respond to court orders, but he did not do so.
Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave recommended dismissing the case because White failed to prosecute it. No party objected to that recommendation, so the district court reviewed it for clear error—an obvious mistake on the record.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer found no clear error, adopted Judge Cave’s recommendation in full, and directed the Clerk of Court to close the case and mail the decision to White.
The detailed version
- White v. New York City Police Department · No. 1:19-cv-07945
- Paul Engelmayer
- Mar. 31, 2022
Background
Devin White filed the complaint on August 22, 2019, and represented himself. The district court referred the case to Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave. The opinion states that White was repeatedly instructed to amend his complaint and respond to the court’s orders, but he did not do so.
Report and Recommendation
On August 14, 2020, Judge Cave issued a report and recommendation advising that the case be dismissed for failure to prosecute. Failure to prosecute means not taking the steps needed to move a case forward. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims or decide whether those claims had merit.
District Court’s Review and Ruling
Because no party objected to the report and recommendation, Judge Engelmayer reviewed it for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake apparent from the record. He found no facial error in Judge Cave’s conclusions and adopted the report and recommendation in its entirety. The Clerk of Court was directed to close the case and mail a copy of the decision to White at the address on file.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.