Jaber v. Shroff
- Laura Swain
- 1:24-cv-02608
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Jaber v. Shroff, Judge Swain dismissed the duplicate complaint without prejudice and ordered that no filing fee be charged.
Faouzi Jaber, Sabrina Shroff, the Federal Defenders of New York, Inc., and the court officials responsible for collecting the filing fee and handling Jaber’s prison trust account.
What happened
In Jaber v. Shroff, Faouzi Jaber, who is incarcerated and representing himself, sued Sabrina Shroff and the Federal Defenders of New York, Inc. His claims arose from his criminal proceedings.
The court found that Jaber had already filed a substantially similar case against the same defendants, which remained pending under docket number 24-CV-0932. It dismissed this complaint without prejudice as duplicative, meaning the dismissal did not bar his pending case. The court also ordered that Jaber not be charged the filing fee for this lawsuit.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court not to charge the fee and denied permission to appeal without paying the required fees, after certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. Judgment was entered.
The detailed version
- Jaber v. Shroff · No. 1:24-cv-02608
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 9, 2024
Background
Faouzi Jaber, who was incarcerated at FCI Gilmer in West Virginia, filed this action without a lawyer. He asserted claims against Sabrina Shroff, identified as his former defense counsel, and the Federal Defenders of New York, Inc. The claims arose from his criminal proceedings.
Reason for Dismissal
The court stated that Jaber had previously filed a substantially similar complaint asserting the same claims against the same defendants. That earlier case remained pending under docket number 24-CV-0932. Because this action duplicated the pending case, the court concluded that filing and litigating this separate lawsuit would serve no useful purpose.
Ruling
The court dismissed Jaber’s complaint without prejudice as duplicative of the pending case under docket number 24-CV-0932. “Without prejudice” means this dismissal did not bar the pending case. The court directed the Clerk of Court not to charge Jaber the $350 filing fee for this action and directed that funds not be deducted or encumbered from his prison trust account for this lawsuit.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the required fees. Judgment was entered. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.