Owens v. Orange County Jail
- Vincent Briccetti
- 7:22-cv-06487
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Owens v. Orange County, Judge Briccetti extended the deadline for serving Kedar and warned that the case could be dismissed if Owens did not act.
DeSean J. Owens, Imam Malik Kedar, and Orange County; the order specifically required Owens to complete service on Kedar or seek another extension.
What happened
In Owens v. Orange County, DeSean J. Owens, who is representing himself, brought constitutional-rights claims under a federal civil-rights law against Imam Malik Kedar and Orange County. The court had previously directed federal marshals to serve Kedar, but the docket did not show that service had been completed.
The court extended Owens’s deadline to serve Kedar or request another extension until September 5, 2023. The order warned that the court might dismiss the case for failing to pursue it and follow court orders if Owens did neither by that date.
Judge Vincent L. Briccetti also denied Owens permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not decide the underlying constitutional claims.
The detailed version
- Owens v. Orange County Jail · No. 7:22-cv-06487
- Vincent Briccetti
- July 6, 2023
Background
DeSean J. Owens, proceeding pro se (without a lawyer) and without paying the usual filing fees, brought claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging violations of his constitutional rights. The court had ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Imam Malik Kedar and Orange County.
The Marshals Service filed a return showing that service on Kedar had not been completed. Orange County later provided a new address for Kedar, and the court issued an amended service order directing the Marshals Service to try service at that address. The court extended Owens’s service deadline to April 25, 2023, and later extended it again to June 30, 2023. The May 1 order instructed Owens to request another extension if service was not completed by June 30.
Order
The court stated that the docket still did not show service on Kedar and that Owens had not requested another extension. The court therefore extended the deadline to serve Kedar, or to request an extension of time to do so, until September 5, 2023.
The court warned that if Owens failed to serve Kedar or request an extension by September 5, it might dismiss the action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute and failure to comply with court orders. The court did not dismiss the action in this order and did not decide the merits of Owens’s constitutional claims.
Judge Vincent L. Briccetti 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 appeal without paying fees. Chambers was directed to mail a copy of the order to Owens.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.