Opinion
# 2017-040-116 Claim No. 118552 Motion No. M-90425 Motion No. M-90563
09-07-2017
RONALD EDWARD WILLIAMS v. THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Ronald Edward Williams, Pro Se ERIC T. SCHNEIDERMAN Attorney General of the State of New York By: Thomas R. Monjeau, Esq., AAG
Synopsis
Claimant's Motions to Amend his Amended Claim denied.
Case information
| UID: | 2017-040-116 |
| Claimant(s): | RONALD EDWARD WILLIAMS |
| Claimant short name: | WILLIAMS |
| Footnote (claimant name) : | |
| Defendant(s): | THE STATE OF NEW YORK |
| Footnote (defendant name) : | |
| Third-party claimant(s): | |
| Third-party defendant(s): | |
| Claim number(s): | 118552 |
| Motion number(s): | M-90425, M-90563 |
| Cross-motion number(s): | |
| Judge: | CHRISTOPHER J. McCARTHY |
| Claimant's attorney: | Ronald Edward Williams, Pro Se |
|---|---|
| Defendant's attorney: | ERIC T. SCHNEIDERMAN Attorney General of the State of New York By: Thomas R. Monjeau, Esq., AAG |
| Third-party defendant's attorney: | |
| Signature date: | September 7, 2017 |
| City: | Albany |
| Comments: | |
| Official citation: | |
| Appellate results: | |
| See also (multicaptioned case) |
Decision
For the reasons set forth below, pro se Claimant's Motions to amend his Claim for the fourth time is denied.
Claimant filed a Claim with the office of the Clerk of the Court on June 18, 2010. An Amended Claim was filed by Claimant with the permission of the Court on December 6, 2012 (see Williams v State of New York, UID No. 2012-040-096 [Ct Cl, McCarthy, J., Nov. 20, 2012]). Subsequently, Claimant moved for permission to supplement his Claim. The first was denied for failure to submit a proposed supplemental Claim clearly showing the changes or additions to his Claim (see Williams v State of New York, UID No. 2013-040-050 [Ct Cl, McCarthy, J., July 15, 2013]). The second was denied for the same reason (see Williams v State of New York, UID No. 2013-040-071 [Ct Cl, McCarthy, J., Oct. 22, 2013]). The third was denied for the same reason (see Williams v State of New York, UID No. 2017-040-024 [Ct Cl, McCarthy, J., Feb. 27, 2014]).
The Amended Claim asserts that Claimant brought an Article 78 proceeding in Supreme Court, Albany County, seeking to overturn a Department of Correctional Services' (hereinafter, "DOCS") determination to deny Claimant's Freedom of Information Law (hereinafter, "FOIL") request for certain documents. By Decision, Order and Judgment dated March 11, 2010 and received in the Albany County Clerk's office on April 5, 2010, the Honorable Richard M. Platkin determined that Claimant was entitled to "responsive documents pertaining solely to himself" (In the Matter of Williams v Anthony Annucci, et al., Sup Ct, Albany County, March 11, 2010, Platkin, J., Index No. 7246-09, p. 4). Claimant alleges that the State has not provided him with the documents as directed by Justice Platkin and seeks damages.
Effective April 2011, the Department of Correctional Services and Division of Parole were merged to form the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (hereinafter, "DOCCS").
Claimant also moved to amend the Amended Claim and that Motion was denied on the basis that "the Second Proposed Amended Claim accrued on May 5, 2010. The filed Claim and Amended Claim assert that the Claim accrued on April 5, 2010. If the assertion that the Second Proposed Amended Claim accrued on May 5, 2010 is correct, then this is a new Claim and not an Amended Claim" and "the Second Proposed Amended Claim asserts that Defendant did not produce exculpatory material during his criminal trial … [which] appears to be a different cause of action from that asserted in the current Claim that Defendant failed to comply with Judge Platkin's Order that Claimant was entitled to responsive documents pertaining solely to himself " (Williams v State of New York, UID No. 2014-040-008 [Ct Cl, McCarthy, J., Feb. 6, 2014]). In addition, Claimant did not state how the failure to produce records resulted in the new causes of action asserted in Paragraph 3 of his Second Proposed Amended Claim (id.).
Claimant now moves "to clarify any and all misconceptions and align the record with new facts and subsequent occurrences" (Notice: Continuance of Original Claim, p. 1). The Court understands these two Motions to be Motions to Amend the Amended Claim. Claimant filed the first of these two Motions with the office of the Clerk of the Court on May 1, 2017. That Motion was given Motion No. M-90425 and was assigned a Return Date of June 14, 2017. Subsequently, the Clerk received the second Motion on May 30, 2017, which is, verbatim, the same as the document filed on May 1, 2017. The Motion filed on May 30, 2017 was assigned Motion No. M-90563. By letter dated June 12, 2017, the Clerk of the Court notified the parties that Motion No. M-90563 was returnable on July 12, 2017 and adjourned the Return Date of Motion No. M-90425 to the same date. Therefore, the Court will decide the Motions together.
CPLR 3025(b) provides that a motion to amend a pleading "shall be accompanied by the proposed amended … pleading clearly showing the changes or additions to be made to the pleading." Each set of Claimant's Motion papers consists of a "Notice of Ex Parte Hearing," "Notice: Continuance of Original Claim;" a letter from Judge Platkin dated November 27, 2012; a letter from DOCCS dated June 9, 2011; a letter from the Office of the Indiana Secretary of State dated August 18, 2016; and an affidavit notarized October 18, 2012 that Claimant submitted on a previous Motion to Amend. However, none of the documents is a proposed amended Claim clearly showing the changes or additions to his Claim. Claimant has not complied with CPLR 3025(b) as he has not included a proposed amended Claim clearly showing the changes or additions to his Claim. Therefore, the Motions to amend are denied.
September 7, 2017
Albany, New York
CHRISTOPHER J. McCARTHY
Judge of the Court of Claims The following papers were read and considered by the Court on Claimant's Motions to amend the Claim: Papers Numbered Motion No. M-90425 : Notice of Ex Parte Hearing, Notice: Continuance of Original Claim & Exhibits Attached 1 Affirmation in Opposition & Exhibit Attached 2 Motion No. M-90563 : Notice of Ex Parte Hearing, Notice: Continuance of Original Claim & Exhibits Attached 1 Letter from Assistant Attorney General dated July 7, 2017 2 Filed Papers: Claim, Amended Claim, Answer and Answer to Amended Claim