Toussaint v. The New York Public Library
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-01507
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Toussaint v. The New York Public Library, Judge Swain ordered a pro se plaintiff to update his address within 30 days or face dismissal without prejudice.
Fritz Gerald Toussaint, the self-represented plaintiff, must provide the court with his current address within 30 days or the action will be dismissed without prejudice for failure to prosecute. The New York Public Library is the defendant in the action.
What happened
In Toussaint v. The New York Public Library, Fritz Gerald Toussaint, who was representing himself, sued the New York Public Library under a federal civil-rights law. The case was transferred to the Southern District of New York, and the court approved his request to proceed without paying filing fees. A mailing from the court was returned as undeliverable.
The court told Toussaint to provide his current address within 30 days after the order. It warned that failing to do so would result in dismissal of the case without prejudice for failure to prosecute, meaning the dismissal would be based on his failure to keep the court informed rather than on the claims’ merits.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied Toussaint permission to proceed without paying appeal fees. The order did not dismiss the case at that time.
The detailed version
- Toussaint v. The New York Public Library · No. 1:23-cv-01507
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 24, 2023
Background
Fritz Gerald Toussaint, proceeding without a lawyer, brought an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that The New York Public Library violated his rights. He filed the action in the Eastern District of New York, which transferred it to the Southern District of New York. The court granted his application to proceed without paying filing fees. The Clerk’s Office mailed that order to Toussaint, but the United States Postal Service reported on March 21, 2023, that the mailing was undeliverable.
Court’s analysis
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) allows a district court to dismiss an action for failure to prosecute when a plaintiff does not move the case forward. The court explained that dismissal may be appropriate when a plaintiff does not provide a new address and the court cannot contact him. The court did not decide whether Toussaint’s civil-rights allegations were valid.
Ruling
The court ordered Toussaint to update his address within 30 days of the order. It stated that failure to do so would result in dismissal of the action without prejudice under Rule 41(b) for failure to prosecute. The order therefore gave notice of a possible future dismissal rather than dismissing the action immediately. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying appeal fees for that appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.