Lane v. James
- Kenneth Karas
- 7:22-cv-10989
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Lane v. James, Judge Karas granted the request to substitute Acting Superintendent Dominick L. Chiumento for former Superintendent Steven A. Nigrelli.
The substitution affects Acting Superintendent Dominick L. Chiumento, former Superintendent Steven A. Nigrelli, and the case caption; the opinion does not describe the underlying claims.
What happened
Lane v. James concerns a request involving a New York State Police superintendent who was sued only in his official capacity.
The State’s lawyers said Steven A. Nigrelli resigned from government service on October 6, 2023, and asked the court to substitute Acting Superintendent Dominick L. Chiumento as the defendant and update the case caption.
Judge Kenneth Karas granted the request under the federal rule governing substitution when a public official sued in an official capacity leaves office.
The detailed version
- Lane v. James · No. 7:22-cv-10989
- Kenneth Karas
- Oct. 13, 2023
Background
The opinion text is a letter from the New York State Office of the Attorney General concerning the case. The letter identifies the matter as “Lane v. Nigrelli, et al.” It states that the office represents Dominick L. Chiumento in his official capacity as Acting Superintendent of the New York State Police. The existing State defendant was Steven A. Nigrelli, who resigned from government service effective October 6, 2023.
Request
The State asked the court to substitute Chiumento for Nigrelli under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d). That rule addresses substitution when a public officer sued in an official capacity leaves office. The State also asked the court to amend the case caption to reflect the substitution.
Ruling
The court marked the request “Granted” and entered the order. The opinion does not address the underlying claims or explain any other case issues. Judge Kenneth Karas therefore granted the request to substitute Chiumento for Nigrelli and to update the caption.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.