Gorneff v. Ilishayev

Background

Serge L. Gorneff, who was representing himself, brought a complaint against Mr. Ruslan Ilishayev, Metropolitan Commercial Bank, and other defendants. He alleged that the defendants violated his rights, but the court did not describe those alleged violations in this order.

Reason for dismissal

The court stated that Gorneff had previously submitted a substantially similar complaint against the defendants asserting the same claims. That earlier case was still pending before the same court under docket number 1:23-CV-9141. Because the current complaint raised the same claims, the court concluded that litigating this duplicate lawsuit would serve no useful purpose.

The order also noted that, in the earlier round of this case, the court had dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim but had allowed Gorneff 30 days to replead his state-law claims by alleging facts showing diversity-of-citizenship jurisdiction. That earlier ruling was background to the present dismissal; this order dismissed the current complaint as duplicative.

Ruling

Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed Gorneff’s complaint as duplicative of docket number 1:23-CV-9141, without prejudice to the pending case. The court directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment in this case.

The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied Gorneff permission to appeal without paying the required fees. The opinion does not state whether Gorneff filed an appeal.