Murray v. Dabo
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:22-cv-04026
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Murray v. Dabo, Judge Caproni granted defendants’ request to file medical records and security videos under seal.
The defendants may file the specified clinical records and security videos under seal; the ruling also protects the confidentiality of Murray’s medical information and the identity of another patient shown in the videos.
What happened
In Murray, as Leviticus Lucifer v. Dabo, et al., Robert Murray, who also uses the name Leviticus Lucifer, sued a doctor and nurse over alleged violations of his Eighth Amendment rights during his hospitalization at Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center.
The defendants asked to file selected clinical records and two hospital security videos under seal. They cited patient-record confidentiality and noted that the videos briefly showed another Kirby patient who was not involved in the case.
Judge Valerie Caproni granted the request to file the exhibits under seal. The order also said that courtesy copies of the exhibits did not need to be sent if they had not already been provided.
The detailed version
- Murray v. Dabo · No. 1:22-cv-04026
- Valerie Caproni
- Apr. 10, 2023
Background
Robert Murray, also known as Leviticus Lucifer, proceeded without a lawyer and sued Dr. Sidiki Dabo and RN Eguagie Ehimwenma. The opinion states that Murray had been hospitalized at Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center, a high-security inpatient facility operated by the New York State Office of Mental Health. He alleged that the defendants violated his rights under the Eighth Amendment.
Request to Seal
The defendants asked for permission to file nine exhibits under seal while their motion to dismiss the Second Amended Complaint, or alternatively for summary judgment, was pending. The requested exhibits included a treatment-over-objection application, clinical progress notes from several dates, and two hospital security videos.
The defendants stated that Murray’s publicly filed pleadings placed his psychiatric treatment at issue. They nevertheless requested sealing because New York Mental Hygiene Law § 33.13 generally requires confidentiality of patient clinical records and patient identities. They also stated that the security videos briefly showed at least one other Kirby patient who was not involved in the case. The exhibits had been replaced with slip sheets in the public electronic filing while the sealing request was pending.
Ruling
The court granted the application to file the exhibits under seal. The court also stated that the defendants did not need to send courtesy copies of the exhibits if they had not already done so.
Judge Identification Note
The supplied case metadata identifies Valerie Caproni as the judge. The opinion text is addressed to Gabriel W. Gorenstein, identifies him as a United States Magistrate Judge, and includes an endorsement that appears to bear his signature. The text therefore contains a judge-identification inconsistency.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.