Hibbert v. The State of New York
- Gregory Woods
- 1:22-cv-08257
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Hibbert v. City of New York, Judge Woods ordered him to file an amended complaint by March 23, or proceed on his current complaint; appeal fee waiver denied.
Conroy Hibbert, Jr.; the City of New York; and the two individuals Hibbert sought to identify as defendants. The individuals would be added only if Hibbert filed an amended complaint naming them.
What happened
In Conroy Hibbert, Jr. v. The City of New York, the court responded to Hibbert’s letter identifying two people who had been listed as unnamed defendants in his original complaint.
The court explained that the letter did not add those people as defendants. To add them, Hibbert had to file a new amended complaint containing all his allegations and explaining how each defendant harmed him. The deadline remained March 23, 2023.
Judge Gregory H. Woods ordered the Clerk to send Hibbert an amended-complaint form and the order. If no amended complaint arrived by the deadline, the case would proceed against only the City of New York. The court also denied permission to appeal without paying the required fees.
The detailed version
- Hibbert v. The State of New York · No. 1:22-cv-08257
- Gregory Woods
- Feb. 22, 2023
Background
Hibbert sent the court a February 14, 2023 letter identifying two people whom the court understood to be the unnamed “John Doe” defendants in his original complaint. The court understood that the New York Law Department had provided their names and addresses.
Court’s Instructions
The court had previously directed Hibbert not merely to provide the individuals’ names and addresses, but, if he wished to sue them, to file an amended complaint naming them. The court therefore explained that the letter itself did not add the individuals as defendants. It attached an amended-complaint form to assist Hibbert.
The court reminded Hibbert that an amended complaint would replace, rather than supplement, the original complaint. It instructed him to include all of his allegations and explain how each defendant harmed him. The deadline for the court to receive the amended complaint remained March 23, 2023.
Possible Paths for the Case
If the court did not receive an amended complaint by March 23, the case would proceed on the current complaint, which named only the City of New York as a defendant. If the court received an amended complaint by that date, the case would proceed on that complaint against the defendants Hibbert named in it.
Appeal and Disposition
The court certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied Hibbert permission to proceed without paying the required fees for an appeal. The Clerk was directed to mail Hibbert both the order and the amended-complaint form.
This order addressed the steps for identifying defendants and filing a complete complaint. It did not decide the merits of Hibbert’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.