Sowell v. Kelly
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-05354
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Sowell v. Kelly, Judge Swain dismissed Randy Sowell’s complaint without prejudice for failure to prosecute after he failed to update his address.
Randy Sowell’s federal civil case was dismissed without prejudice; the court also denied fee-waiver status for an appeal.
What happened
In Sowell v. Kelly, the court had allowed Randy Sowell to file an amended complaint and later ordered him to provide an updated mailing address after learning he had been transferred.
The address-update order was returned as undeliverable because Sowell had been released and had not provided a forwarding address. He also did not otherwise contact the court.
Judge Swain dismissed the complaint without prejudice for failure to prosecute under Rule 41(b). The court also denied fee-waiver status for an appeal after certifying that any appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Sowell v. Kelly · No. 1:23-cv-05354
- Laura Swain
- Feb. 26, 2024
Background
The court had previously allowed Randy Sowell 60 days to file an amended complaint. In another case, Sowell told the court that he had been transferred to a facility in New Jersey. The court then ordered him to update his mailing address and warned that failing to do so would lead to dismissal for failure to prosecute under Rule 41(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
The Clerk’s Office mailed that order to Cape May Correctional Facility, where public records indicated Sowell was detained. The order was returned as undeliverable after Sowell was released, and he did not provide a forwarding address. The opinion also states that he did not otherwise contact the court.
Ruling
The court dismissed Sowell’s complaint without prejudice for failure to prosecute because he did not comply with the address-update order, notify the court of his new mailing address, or initiate further contact. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal. The Clerk was directed to terminate all motions and enter judgment.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.