McFadden v. Keyser

Background

Robert McFadden, who is incarcerated at Mid-State Correctional Facility and is representing himself, brought claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act concerning alleged events at Sullivan Correctional Facility between 2019 and 2022. The defendants include correctional-facility officials and employees.

The court had previously granted McFadden permission to proceed without prepaying the filing fee and had directed the U.S. Marshals Service to serve all defendants. McFadden later reported that William Elberth and several other defendants might no longer work at Sullivan Correctional Facility. The court asked him to identify the specific defendants for whom he believed he had no service address.

McFadden identified these eleven defendants: Superintendent William Keyser; Deputy Superintendent of Security Gary Sipple; Captain Kenneth Letus; Food Services Administrator Anthony Rizzuto; Head Cook John Papavasilou; Cook Anthony Carminati; Inmate Grievance Program Supervisor Cory Proscia; Nurse Kathleen Buttles; Correctional Officer William Elberth; C.O. George Gilmour, Sr.; and Hearing Officer Morrow.

Court’s action

Relying on the rule that a self-represented litigant is entitled to the district court’s assistance in identifying a defendant, the court ordered the New York State Attorney General to ascertain the addresses of the eleven listed defendants. The Attorney General was instructed to provide the information to McFadden and the court within 60 days.

The court stated that, after receiving the information, it would issue a supplemental order directing service on those defendants. The Clerk was directed to mail McFadden a copy of the order and record service on the docket. The order addressed identifying service information and did not decide the merits of McFadden’s claims.