Auguste v. Department of Corrections
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:24-cv-00921
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 6
In Auguste v. Department of Corrections, Judge Engelmayer dismissed claims against two city agencies, substituted New York City, and ordered service on remaining defendants.
Jean R. Auguste, Jr.; the New York City Department of Correction and Department of Homeless Services; the City of New York; the individual defendants; and Project Renewal. The agency claims were dismissed, the City was added as a defendant, and service and discovery procedures were ordered.
What happened
In Auguste v. Department of Corrections, Jean R. Auguste, Jr., who is detained at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island, sued under a federal civil-rights law and state law. He is representing himself and had permission to proceed without paying court fees in advance.
The court dismissed the claims against the New York City Department of Correction and the New York City Department of Homeless Services because those city agencies cannot be sued as separate entities. Because Auguste likely intended to sue New York City, the court directed the clerk to add the City as a defendant instead.
Judge Engelmayer ordered steps to serve the defendants, including asking several defendants to waive service and directing the U.S. Marshals Service to serve others. The court also applied a prisoner-discovery rule requiring certain defendants to answer standard discovery requests within 120 days after service, and denied fee-free status for any appeal.
The detailed version
- Auguste v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:24-cv-00921
- Paul Engelmayer
- Mar. 11, 2024
Background
Jean R. Auguste, Jr. brought the action while detained at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island. He proceeded without a lawyer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a statute allowing claims for violations of federal rights by state or local officials, and also alleged violations of state law. The court had granted him permission to proceed without paying filing fees in advance. The opinion notes that prisoners must still pay the full filing fee over time even when granted that permission.
Screening and municipal defendants
Because Auguste was proceeding without prepaying fees, the court screened his complaint under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) and 1915A(b). Screening is the court’s required early review to determine whether a complaint is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a legally sufficient claim, or seeks money from an immune defendant. The court also noted that it must dismiss a case over which it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction.
The court dismissed Auguste’s claims against the New York City Department of Correction and the New York City Department of Homeless Services. It ruled that a New York City agency generally is not a separate entity that can be sued. In light of Auguste’s self-represented status and the court’s view that he likely intended to assert claims against New York City, the court directed the clerk to amend the caption and add the City of New York as a defendant. The opinion states that this amendment was without prejudice to defenses the City might later assert.
Service and discovery
The court requested that the City of New York, Captain Kelly, Officer Caruso, and Officer Osborne waive service of summons. Because Auguste had permission to proceed without prepaying fees, the court directed the clerk to prepare summonses and service paperwork for Devon M. Radlin, Ilissa Brownstein, Samuel Christopher DePaola, and Project Renewal and deliver the materials to the U.S. Marshals Service for service.
The court stated that service must occur within 90 days after summonses are issued, while allowing Auguste to request an extension if necessary. It also directed him to notify the court in writing of any address change and warned that the action could be dismissed if he failed to do so.
Local Civil Rule 33.2 applies to the action. Under that rule, the City of New York, Captain Kelly, Officer Caruso, and Officer Osborne must serve responses to the specified standard prisoner discovery requests within 120 days after service of the complaint and must quote each request verbatim in their responses.
Disposition
The court dismissed Auguste’s claims against the New York City Department of Correction and the New York City Department of Homeless Services, directed that the City of New York be added as a defendant, and ordered the service-related steps described above. It also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer signed the order on March 11, 2024. The order does not decide whether Auguste’s underlying constitutional or state-law claims are valid.
Read the full 6-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.