Brown v. United States of America Department of Justice, No. 1:2013cv00691 - Document 40 (W.D.N.Y. 2014)

Court Description: DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING Defendant's 31 Motion to Dismiss this action for lack of prosecution; FURTHER, the Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to close this case. Signed by William M. Skretny, Chief Judge U.S.D.C. on 7/24/2014. (CLERK TO FOLLOW UP). (CMD)

Download PDF
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ROBERT E. BROWN, v. DECISION AND ORDER 13-CV-691S UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant. 1. Presently before this Court is Defendant s motion to dismiss this case for lack of prosecution pursuant to Rule 41(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Defendant asserts that, despite several attempts at informal resolutions as well as a court order compelling compliance, Plaintiff has failed to provide the requested discovery demands for over five months. Plaintiff s counsel does not dispute this, but states that he has had difficulty locating and communicating with his client. Counsel therefore requests that Plaintiff be given additional time to comply with the outstanding discovery demands. 2. Defendant s motion to dismiss is granted. The initial discovery demands were made in January 2014. Plaintiff s counsel states that he or his staff spoke with Plaintiff on three occasions in April and May of this year, each time impressing upon Plaintiff the serious consequences he faced with his case if he did not respond to Defendant s discovery requests. (Rusin Decl ΒΆΒΆ 7-10, Docket No. 36.) Nonetheless, counsel has had no further contact with his client since May 30, 2014. Accordingly, even if an extension of time for the completion of discovery was otherwise warranted in this case, Plaintiff has clearly indicated an intent to abandon this action. IT HEREBY IS ORDERED, that Defendant s motion to dismiss this action for lack of prosecution is GRANTED and the complaint is dismissed; FURTHER, that the Clerk of the Court shall close this case. SO ORDERED. Dated: July 24, 2014 Buffalo, New York s/William M. Skretny WILLIAM M. SKRETNY Chief Judge United States District Court 2

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.