Garcia v. Thomas
- George Daniels
- 1:21-cv-00636
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Garcia v. Thomas, Judge Daniels granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the pro se plaintiff’s complaint for failure to prosecute.
Daniel Garcia’s case was dismissed, and the defendants obtained dismissal of the action without a decision on the allegations about medical care.
What happened
In Garcia v. Thomas, Daniel Garcia alleged that staff and administrators at Rikers Island failed to provide medical care during and after a suicide attempt, and that one officer struck him. Garcia represented himself.
Garcia stopped communicating with the court and defense counsel, did not follow two court orders, missed two hearings, and did not respond to defendants’ motion to dismiss. He also did not file objections to the magistrate judge’s recommended decision.
Judge George B. Daniels found no clear error in the recommendation and adopted it in full. The court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute, directed the Clerk to close the motion, and closed the case.
The detailed version
- Garcia v. Thomas · No. 1:21-cv-00636
- George Daniels
- May 10, 2023
Background
Daniel Garcia, who represented himself, sued Jason Thomas, Omar Guerra, Beethoven Joseph, and Keith Blatz. The opinion describes the defendants as Rikers Island staff and administrators. Garcia alleged that the defendants failed to provide him with medical care before and after he attempted suicide by hanging on December 27, 2020. He also alleged that Correction Officer Thomas hit him in the back of the head during the attempt.
Procedural History
Defendants moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b), which permits dismissal when a plaintiff fails to prosecute a case. Garcia had not contacted the court since January 18, 2022, or defense counsel since February 22, 2022. The opinion states that he failed to comply with two court orders, failed to appear at two hearings, and did not respond to the motion. Garcia was no longer in custody at Rikers, and court mail sent to the address he provided was sometimes returned as undeliverable.
Magistrate Judge Barbara C. Moses recommended dismissing the action. No party objected to that recommendation. Because there were no objections, Judge Daniels reviewed the recommendation for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake after reviewing the record.
Ruling
Judge Daniels found no clear error and adopted the Report and Recommendation in full. The court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss. It dismissed Garcia’s complaint for failure to prosecute, directed the Clerk of Court to close the pending motion, and closed the case.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.