Monticello Village Court, Inc v. Bey
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-10855
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
Monticello Village Court v. Bey: Judge Swain remanded Bey’s removed traffic-ticket proceeding to state court because he showed no lawful basis for removal.
Akwa Azeem Bey’s attempted federal removal was unsuccessful; the traffic-ticket proceeding was returned to the Monticello Village Court, and the federal case was closed. The order did not resolve the validity of the tickets or Bey’s underlying rights allegations.
What happened
In Monticello Village Court, Inc. v. Bey, Akwa Azeem Bey, also known as Desmond Oxford McDaniel, tried to move a traffic-ticket proceeding from the Monticello Village Court to federal court. He was representing himself and had received two traffic tickets and an appearance ticket after a traffic stop.
The court explained that state criminal proceedings can be moved to federal court only in limited situations, such as when a federal officer is being prosecuted for official conduct or when the defendant cannot enforce equal civil rights in state court. Although Bey filed his notice on time and included copies of the tickets, he did not show that either situation applied. His claims that the tickets violated his rights did not challenge the state-court proceeding itself.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled that removal was improper and remanded the proceeding to the Monticello Village Court. She directed the clerk to send that court a copy of the order and close the federal case; all other pending matters were terminated. The court also denied status to appeal without paying fees, finding that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Monticello Village Court, Inc v. Bey · No. 1:23-cv-10855
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 16, 2024
Background
Akwa Azeem Bey, also known as Desmond Oxford McDaniel, appeared without a lawyer and filed a notice seeking to remove to federal court what appeared to be a traffic-ticket proceeding pending in the Monticello Village Court. The notice identified the Monticello Village Court, Inc., Police Officer Mathew Rohner, and the People of the State of New York as plaintiffs. The opinion noted that the court and Officer Rohner were presumably not parties to the state proceeding and that a removal action cannot be used to add new parties or assert new claims.
According to the notice, Officer Rohner stopped Bey on December 2, 2023, while Bey was traveling north on Forest Road. Rohner issued two traffic tickets and an appearance ticket directing Bey to appear in the Monticello Village Court on December 18, 2023. The appearance ticket stated that a warrant would issue if Bey failed to appear. Bey asserted that the tickets and possible sanctions violated his rights and that those involved lacked authority to issue them.
Legal standard
A defendant may remove a state-court matter only when the federal district court has original jurisdiction. The court explained that removal statutes are narrowly construed because removal takes jurisdiction away from the state court. For a state criminal proceeding, federal law allows removal in limited circumstances, including when a state prosecution is brought against a federal officer or member of the armed forces for conduct taken under official authority, or when the defendant is denied or cannot enforce equal civil rights in the state courts.
The defendant bears the burden of showing that removal is authorized. A federal court may remand a proceeding to state court when removal is improper. The court may also remand for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
Court’s analysis
The court found that Bey’s removal was timely and that he supplied copies of the two traffic tickets and the appearance ticket, attempting to satisfy the procedural filing requirements. Even assuming those procedural requirements were met, however, the court found no facts supporting federal removal jurisdiction.
Bey did not allege that he was a federal officer or member of the armed forces being prosecuted for actions taken under official authority. He also did not allege facts showing that he could not enforce an equal-rights protection in New York state courts. The court concluded that Bey appeared to challenge the issuance of the tickets, rather than the state-court proceeding itself, and therefore had not shown a statutory basis for removing the proceeding.
Disposition
The court concluded that removal was improper and remanded the action to the Monticello Village Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1455(b)(4). The clerk was directed to send that court a copy of the order and close the federal action. All other pending matters were terminated.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied status to appeal without paying filing fees. The opinion does not decide whether the traffic tickets or any underlying civil-rights allegations were valid.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.