King v. King

Background

Sharif King, representing himself and incarcerated at Five Points Correctional Facility, sued Sharod King, his brother. The complaint asserts a breach-of-contract claim and relies on the court’s jurisdiction over disputes between citizens of different states. In a May 19, 2022 order, the court gave Sharif King permission to file an amended complaint providing facts about the parties’ citizenship and explaining why the Southern District of New York was the proper venue.

Sharif King appealed that May 19 order on June 2, 2022. The Clerk’s Office transferred the action to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on June 8, 2022. While the case was in the appeals court, Sharif King sent a June 23, 2022 letter asking the district court to add the facts in the letter to his complaint. The district court could not rule on that request while the appeal was pending because the notice of appeal removed the case from the district court’s control. On February 10, 2023, the appeals court dismissed the appeal and returned jurisdiction to the district court.

Ruling

The court granted Sharif King’s request to supplement his complaint with the June 23, 2022 letter. It directed the Clerk of Court to docket the submission as the “Letter Supplementing the Complaint.”

The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to appeal without paying the filing fees for that appeal. The order did not decide the underlying breach-of-contract claim or the parties’ citizenship.