Vazquez-Diaz v. John Doe Warden of MCCLNY

Background

Luis Vazquez-Diaz, who was incarcerated at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, filed this lawsuit without a lawyer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He alleged that his constitutional rights were violated during his incarceration in New York. The opinion states that he had already filed an identical complaint against the same defendants and that the earlier case, docket number 22-CV-3315 (UA), remained pending.

Court’s reasoning

The court concluded that the new lawsuit duplicated the pending case. Because the claims and defendants were the same, the court found that filing and litigating the second lawsuit would serve no useful purpose. The court therefore dismissed the complaint without prejudice to Vazquez-Diaz’s pending case. The dismissal was based on duplication; the court did not decide whether the alleged constitutional violations occurred.

Rulings

The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice as duplicative of docket number 22-CV-3315 (UA). It directed the Clerk of Court not to charge Vazquez-Diaz the $350 filing fee for this action, and directed that the official having custody of him not deduct or encumber funds from his prison trust account for this lawsuit. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying appeal costs.