Chen v. The City of New York
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-02383
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Chen v. City of New York, Chief Judge Swain gave Chen 30 days to update his address or face dismissal without prejudice.
Long Chen, the plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, must update his address or risk dismissal without prejudice; the City of New York is the defendant in the action.
What happened
In Chen v. City of New York, Long Chen was proceeding without a lawyer and had been detained at Rikers Island when he filed the case. Court mail about correcting his complaint was returned as undeliverable, and he did not provide a new address or contact the court.
The court gave Chen 30 days from the order’s date to update his address. It said that if he did not comply, it would dismiss the case without prejudice for failing to prosecute it.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied Chen permission to appeal without paying the filing fees.
The detailed version
- Chen v. The City of New York · No. 1:23-cv-02383
- Laura Swain
- July 17, 2023
Background
Long Chen, who was detained at the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island when he filed the complaint, was proceeding without a lawyer and had been allowed to proceed without paying the filing fee. The court had previously given him permission to file an amended complaint addressing problems in his original pleading. The Clerk’s Office mailed that order to him, but the mail was returned as undeliverable. Chen had not notified the court of a change of address and had not contacted the court further.
Court’s directive
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) permits a district court to dismiss an action for failure to prosecute after notifying the plaintiff. The court directed Chen to update his address of record within 30 days of the order. The order did not dismiss the action at that time. It stated that if Chen failed to comply, the court would dismiss the action without prejudice for failure to prosecute.
Appeal-fee ruling
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied Chen permission to proceed without paying the filing fee for an appeal. The order was signed by Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.