Nieves v. The New York State Office of Mental Health
- Gregory Woods
- 1:20-cv-09502
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Nieves v. New York State Office of Mental Health, Judge Woods stayed proceedings after Nieves’s death and set a substitution deadline.
Michael Nieves’s estate or any successor or representative seeking to continue the case, along with the parties whose pending motions were treated as withdrawn.
What happened
In Michael Nieves v. New York State Office of Mental Health, et al., the court was informed that Nieves died on August 30, 2022, while his case was pending.
The court explained that a party or the deceased person’s successor or representative could seek substitution under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(a)(1) by December 1, 2022. The court also paused the case because no representative was available to continue it.
Judge Gregory H. Woods treated the pending motions as withdrawn, without prejudice to renewing them after a successor is appointed. The court also denied in forma pauperis status for an appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Nieves v. The New York State Office of Mental Health · No. 1:20-cv-09502
- Gregory Woods
- Sept. 1, 2022
Background
The court was informed that plaintiff Michael Nieves had died on August 30, 2022. The order does not decide the underlying claims in the case.
Substitution After Death
The court discussed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(a)(1), which governs replacing a deceased party when the claim has not ended because of the death. Under that rule, a party or the deceased person’s successor or representative may file a motion for substitution. The court stated that the motion had to be filed no later than December 1, 2022—90 days after the filing of the notice of death. Any motion would need to address whether it was timely, whether the claims survived Nieves’s death, and whether the proposed replacement was a proper party.
Rulings
The court found good cause to stay, or pause, the proceedings while a motion for substitution could be filed because there was currently no representative to prosecute Nieves’s action. It treated all pending motions as withdrawn, without prejudice to their renewal after a successor was appointed. The Clerk was directed to note the stay on the docket and terminate the motions listed at Dkt. Nos. 33, 38, 41, and 43.
Judge Gregory H. Woods also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and therefore denied in forma pauperis status for purposes of an appeal. The Clerk was directed to mail the order to Nieves for the attention of his estate by first-class and certified mail.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.