Zuleta v. Krom
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-07494
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Zuleta v. Krom, Judge Swain dismissed the duplicative action without prejudice, denied appeal fee-waiver status, and directed judgment.
Hector Munoz Zuleta’s duplicate lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice; his pending identical action was not dismissed by this order. The order also denied fee-waiver status for an appeal.
What happened
In Zuleta v. Krom, Hector Munoz Zuleta brought a lawsuit without a lawyer under a federal civil-rights law, seeking money damages from J. Krom and others. He was incarcerated at Sullivan Correctional Facility.
The court found that Zuleta had already filed an identical complaint in a pending case, docket number 1:23-CV-7225 (LTS). Because the two cases raised the same claims, the court said there was no useful purpose in litigating this action.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed this action without prejudice as duplicative of the pending case and directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment. She also denied fee-waiver status for any appeal after certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Zuleta v. Krom · No. 1:23-cv-07494
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 28, 2023
Background
Hector Munoz Zuleta, who was incarcerated at Sullivan Correctional Facility, filed this action without a lawyer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, seeking damages from J. Krom, identified in the caption as a Deputy Superintendent of Administration, and other defendants.
Reason for Dismissal
The court stated that Zuleta had previously submitted an identical complaint in a pending related action, docket number 1:23-CV-7225 (LTS). Because this action raised the same claims as that pending case, the court concluded that litigating this action would serve no useful purpose.
Ruling
Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed this action without prejudice as duplicative of the pending related action. The court directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment in this action.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith. As a result, it denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.