Alli v. Walker
- Paul Gardephe
- 1:22-cv-07616
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Alli v. Walker, Judge Aaron granted requests to identify unknown defendants and extend a deadline, but denied a request to pause the case.
Umar Alli; the unnamed John and Jane Doe defendants; the City of New York; Warden Sharlisa Walker; the New York City Department of Correction; and the New York City Law Department.
What happened
In Alli v. Walker, Umar Alli, who is representing himself, asked the court to help identify unnamed defendants connected to incidents described in his complaint. He also sought more time to respond to a motion to dismiss and asked the court to pause the case.
The court granted the request to identify the unnamed defendants and ordered the New York City Law Department to provide their names and service addresses within 60 days. It also granted Alli more time to respond to the pending motion to dismiss, setting July 15, 2023, as the deadline. Alli must file an amended complaint within 30 days after receiving the identifying information, and the deadline to serve the newly identified defendants was extended to September 22, 2023.
The court denied Alli’s request to pause the case because it found that a pause was not warranted. Stewart D. Aaron, the United States magistrate judge who issued the order, also requested that the Clerk mail Alli a copy of his filed complaint.
The detailed version
- Alli v. Walker · No. 1:22-cv-07616
- Paul Gardephe
- Mar. 26, 2023
Background
Umar Alli asked the court for an order helping him identify the John and Jane Doe defendants named in his complaint. The opinion states that Alli was representing himself. Alli also asked for more time to respond to a motion to dismiss filed by the City of New York and Warden Sharlisa Walker, requested a pause in the proceedings, and asked to receive a copy of his filed complaint.
Rulings and deadlines
The court granted Alli’s request for an order identifying the unnamed defendants. It determined that the complaint appeared to provide enough information for the City of New York and the New York City Department of Correction to identify the people involved in the November 2021 incidents. The court ordered the New York City Law Department, identified as the Department of Correction’s attorney and agent, to determine the identities of each John and Jane Doe defendant and the address where each could be served. The Law Department had to provide that information to Alli and the court within 60 days, no later than May 25, 2023.
After receiving the information, Alli had 30 days to file an amended complaint naming the defendants. The amended complaint would replace, rather than supplement, the original complaint. The court stated that it would screen the amended complaint and, if necessary, arrange for service of the newly named defendants. The court also extended Alli’s deadline to serve those defendants to 180 days from the order, or September 22, 2023.
The court granted Alli’s request for more time to respond to the pending motion to dismiss and extended that deadline to July 15, 2023. The court explained that filing an amended pleading could make the pending motion to dismiss moot. The court denied Alli’s request for a stay, meaning a pause in the proceedings, because it found that a stay was not warranted. The Clerk was also requested to mail Alli a copy of his filed complaint. Judge Stewart D. Aaron issued and signed the order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.