John Doe v. The Federal Republic of Germany
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-07497
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In John Doe v. The Federal Republic of Germany, Chief Judge Swain dismissed the duplicate complaint without prejudice to the pending related case.
John Doe’s duplicate federal lawsuit was dismissed, while his identical claims remained pending in the related case under docket number 23-CV-6395 (VSB).
What happened
John Doe, representing himself, filed this case against The Federal Republic of Germany and The Budeskriminalamt of the Federal Republic of Germany. He alleged that the defendants violated his rights, but the opinion does not describe those allegations in detail.
Judge Swain found that John Doe had already filed an identical complaint against the same defendants in a related case that was still pending. The court dismissed this complaint without prejudice to that pending case and directed John Doe to make future filings about these claims there.
The order also denied permission to appeal without paying court fees because the court determined that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
The detailed version
- John Doe v. The Federal Republic of Germany · No. 1:23-cv-07497
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 28, 2023
Background
John Doe, who was representing himself, sued The Federal Republic of Germany and The Budeskriminalamt of the Federal Republic of Germany. He alleged that the defendants violated his rights. The opinion does not provide further details about the underlying claims.
The court stated that John Doe had previously submitted an identical complaint against the same defendants. That earlier related case remained pending under docket number 23-CV-6395 (VSB). The opinion also noted that John Doe filed both cases under the name “John Doe” and filed an identical motion in both cases seeking permission to proceed under a pseudonym.
Ruling
The court dismissed this complaint as duplicative of docket number 23-CV-6395 (VSB). The dismissal was without prejudice to John Doe’s pending case, meaning the court did not bar the claims from being pursued in that other case. The court directed John Doe to make any future filings concerning these claims in the pending case.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying court fees. The Clerk of Court was directed to enter judgment in this action. Laura Taylor Swain signed the order as Chief United States District Judge.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.