Gomez-Kadawid v. Lee
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:20-cv-01786
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Gomez-Kadawid v. Lee, Magistrate Judge Figueredo arranged limited pro bono counsel and denied fee-free appeal status.
Yahkima Gomez-Kadawid received limited pro bono assistance from Susan Weiswasser for responding to the renewed motion to dismiss and conducting discovery. The defendants could be involved in discovery, including possible depositions. The order also affected the plaintiff’s ability to appeal this order without paying required fees.
What happened
In Gomez-Kadawid v. Lee, the court arranged for Susan Weiswasser to serve as limited pro bono counsel for Yahkima Gomez-Kadawid. The representation was intended to help respond to the defendants’ renewed request to dismiss the case and conduct discovery.
Counsel could assist with depositions, document discovery, settlement discussions, and other discovery that counsel considered necessary. Counsel was not required to respond to a later request for summary judgment or represent the plaintiff at trial unless the court expanded the assignment. The representation would end after discovery when counsel filed a notice of completion.
Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
The detailed version
- Gomez-Kadawid v. Lee · No. 1:20-cv-01786
- Valerie Caproni
- Dec. 12, 2022
Background
Yahkima Gomez-Kadawid alleged that rights were violated by being subjected to invasive surgery without consent. The opinion states that, in June 2021, Judge Debra C. Freeman found the claim likely to have substance and directed the Clerk of Court to seek pro bono counsel. The limited assignment was intended to help the plaintiff respond to a pending motion to dismiss and conduct discovery if the case proceeded. The defendants’ earlier motion to dismiss was denied on February 24, 2022. The defendants later renewed their motion to dismiss.
Counsel’s limited role
Susan Weiswasser filed a notice of limited appearance as pro bono counsel on December 11, 2022. The court requested that she serve as counsel for the limited purposes of helping the plaintiff prepare a response to the renewed motion to dismiss and assisting with discovery. The discovery role included defending the plaintiff’s deposition if one was noticed, conducting document discovery, and, if needed to develop the evidentiary record, conducting depositions of the defendants. Counsel could also participate in settlement discussions and could conduct additional discovery that she considered necessary in good faith, but was not required to do so.
The order did not require counsel to respond to a future motion for summary judgment or represent the plaintiff at trial. If a defendant filed a summary-judgment motion, counsel could seek relief such as more time for the plaintiff to respond or an expansion of the assignment. Without such an expansion, the representation would end when discovery was completed and counsel filed a notice of completion. The order also explained that counsel could seek reimbursement of certain out-of-pocket expenses from the court’s Pro Bono Fund.
Ruling
Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo ordered the limited pro bono representation described above. 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 fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. This order addressed counsel and appeal-fee status; it did not decide the defendants’ renewed motion to dismiss.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.