Castelan v. John
- Nelson Roman
- 7:22-cv-09326
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Castelan v. John, Judge Roman ordered New York’s Attorney General to find Shaun H. Kerr’s address so service could be completed.
Christian Castelan, Shaun H. Kerr, the New York Attorney General’s Office, and the Clerk of Court; the order also concerns service on Keenan A. John and the defendant identified in the caption as Bermann Joseph.
What happened
Castelan v. John concerns a pro se plaintiff’s effort to identify and serve correctional officers previously named as John Doe defendants. The court had directed the Orange County Law Department to identify them and allowed the plaintiff to file an amended complaint.
The court noted that service had been accepted for Keenan A. John and the defendant identified in the caption as Bermann Joseph, but an attempt to serve Shaun H. Kerr was unsuccessful. It ordered the New York Attorney General’s Office to provide Kerr’s address or explain why he could not be served by July 12, 2023.
Judge Nelson S. Roman also directed the Clerk to mail the supplemental order to the plaintiff and record that mailing on the docket.
The detailed version
- Castelan v. John · No. 7:22-cv-09326
- Nelson Roman
- June 28, 2023
Background
Christian Castelan, proceeding without a lawyer, named unidentified “John Doe” defendants in his Second Amended Complaint. Under a prior order assisting a self-represented litigant in identifying an unknown defendant, the court directed the Orange County Law Department to determine the defendants’ identities and addresses. The court also allowed Castelan to file a Third Amended Complaint within 30 days after receiving that information.
The court later directed service on Correctional Officer Keenan A. John, Correctional Officer Shaun H. Kerr, and Correctional Sergeant Bermann Joseph. The docket showed that service had been accepted on behalf of Keenan A. John and the defendant referred to in the body of the opinion as “Berman Joseph.” An attempt by the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Shaun H. Kerr was returned unexecuted.
Order
The court directed the New York Attorney General’s Office to find and provide an address for Shaun H. Kerr so service could be completed, or to explain why Kerr could not be served. The deadline was July 12, 2023.
The court also directed the Clerk to mail a copy of the supplemental order to Castelan at the address listed on the docket and to record the mailing on the docket. The opinion is a service-related procedural order; it does not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.