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 Michael Nieves v. New York State Office of Mental Health, Judge Woods dismissed the action after no substitution motion was filed by the deadline following Nieves’s death.
Michael Nieves’s action was dismissed after no party filed a motion to substitute within the court’s deadline following his death. The court also denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees and directed the case to be closed.
What happened
In Michael Nieves v. New York State Office of Mental Health, the court had stayed the case after noting Michael Nieves’s death and allowed any party to seek substitution by December 1, 2022.
That deadline passed without a motion for substitution. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims or explain whether anyone sought to continue the case.
The court dismissed the action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(a)(1), directed the Clerk of Court to close the case, and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees after certifying that any appeal would not be taken in good faith. Judge Gregory H. Woods issued the order.
The detailed version
- Nieves v. The New York State Office of Mental Health · No. 1:20-cv-09502
- Gregory Woods
- Dec. 2, 2022
Background
On September 1, 2022, the Court issued a statement regarding Michael Nieves’s death and stayed the proceedings while awaiting any motion to substitute another party who sought to continue prosecuting the action. The Court’s order set December 1, 2022, as the deadline for filing a substitution motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(a)(1).
Ruling
Rule 25(a)(1) provides that when a party dies, a motion to substitute must be made within 90 days after service of a statement noting the death. If no motion is filed within that period, the action must be dismissed. The deadline passed, and no motion for substitution was filed. The Court therefore dismissed the action under Rule 25(a)(1).
The Court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees. The Clerk of Court was directed to close the case.
Scope of the Decision
The opinion resolves the case based on the failure to file a timely substitution motion after Nieves’s death. It does not address the merits of the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.