Phillips v. Russ
- Kenneth Karas
- 7:23-cv-08283
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Phillips v. Russ, Judge Swain dismissed Phillips’s complaint after she failed to file an amended complaint.
Clio Phillips’s complaint against Leonard Russ, Linda Myers Russ d/b/a Bayberry Care Center, and United Food and Commercial Workers Union was dismissed; the order also denied fee-waiver status for an appeal.
What happened
In Clio Phillips v. Leonard Russ, Linda Myers Russ, and United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the court had ordered Phillips to file an amended complaint within a specified time. The court later extended that deadline, but Phillips did not file the amended complaint.
The court dismissed the complaint for failing to state a claim for relief and for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. It also declined to consider any state-law claims and directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Phillips permission to proceed without paying the appeal fee.
The detailed version
- Phillips v. Russ · No. 7:23-cv-08283
- Kenneth Karas
- Apr. 29, 2024
Background
The court had directed Plaintiff Clio Phillips, by an order dated December 5, 2023, to file an amended complaint within 60 days. On February 6, 2024, the court granted Phillips’s request for more time and again directed her to file an amended complaint within 60 days. That order warned that failing to comply would result in dismissal. Phillips did not file an amended complaint.
Rulings
The court dismissed the complaint, which had been filed without prepaying the filing fee under the federal statute allowing a person to proceed without paying that fee. The stated grounds were failure to state a claim on which relief may be granted and lack of subject matter jurisdiction, meaning the court lacked authority to decide the matter. The court also declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over any state-law claims Phillips may have been asserting. Supplemental jurisdiction is a federal court’s authority to hear related state-law claims.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for purposes of an appeal. The Clerk of Court was directed to enter judgment. Chief United States District 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.