KARUPAIYAN v. TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES (TCS)

CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedAugust 12, 2025
Docket2:22-cv-01349
StatusUnknown

This text of KARUPAIYAN v. TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES (TCS) (KARUPAIYAN v. TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES (TCS)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
KARUPAIYAN v. TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES (TCS), (D.N.J. 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY CHAMBERS OF MARTIN LUTHER KING ESTHER SALAS COURTHOUSE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 50 WALNUT ST. ROOM 5076 NEWARK, NJ 07102 973-297-4887 August 12, 2025 LETTER MEMORANDUM Re: Karupaiyan v. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), et al., Civil Action No. 22-1349 (ES) (JRA) Dear Parties: Before the Court is pro se plaintiff Palani Karupaiyan’s (“Plaintiff”) Amended Complaint. (D.E. No. 21 (“Amended Complaint” or “Am. Compl.”)). Plaintiff1 brings this action against defendants Tata Consultancy Services (“TCS”), “Tata Group of Companies” (TCS’s parent company), TCS’s Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) Rajesh Gopinathan, TCS’s former CEOs Natarajan Chandrasekaran and Subramanian Ramadorai, and “John does [sic] ex-CEOs of TCS” (collectively, “Defendants”). (Am. Compl. at 1). On October 19, 2023, Plaintiff filed the Amended Complaint after the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (“Third Circuit”) dismissed Plaintiff’s appeal of this Court’s January 27, 2023 Order granting him in forma pauperis (“IFP”) status and dismissing the initial complaint without prejudice upon screening for failure to meet the pleading standards pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“Rules”) 8 and 12(b)(6). (D.E. Nos. 5, 7 & 16). On the same day Plaintiff filed the Amended Complaint, he submitted a “Motion for Writ of Mandamus, Prohibition, or Alternative.” (D.E. No. 22 (“Motion”)). Thus, also before the Court are Plaintiff’s objections (D.E. No. 30 (“Plaintiff’s Objections” or “Pl.’s Obj.”)) to the report and recommendation issued by the Honorable José R. Almonte, U.S.M.J., recommending that this Court deny Plaintiff’s Motion (D.E. No. 27 (“Report and Recommendation” or “R&R”)). For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint is DISMISSED with prejudice and Plaintiff’s Motion is DENIED as moot. In the alternative, the Court OVERRULES Plaintiff’s Objections, ADOPTS Judge Almonte’s R&R in full, and DENIES Plaintiff’s Motion. I. BACKGROUND On March 14, 2022, Plaintiff brought this action against defendants TCS, Rajesh Gopinathan, Tata Group of Companies, and “John does [sic] ex-CEOs of TCS.” (D.E. No. 1 (“Complaint” or “Compl.”) at 1). This Court granted Plaintiff’s IFP application, screened the 1 Although the Amended Complaint continues to list minor individuals “P.P.” and “R.P.” as named plaintiffs, the Court reiterates that a parent cannot represent the interests of his or her minor children pro se. (See D.E. No. 5 ¶ 1 n.1 (citing Jackson v. Bolandi, No. 18-17484, 2020 WL 255974, at *4 (D.N.J. Jan. 17, 2020) (noting that “a non- attorney parent may not represent his or her child pro se in federal court”))). Accordingly, the Court construes the allegations in the Amended Complaint as made on behalf of Plaintiff Palani Karupaiyan only. Complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B), and found that Plaintiff failed to meet the pleading standards pursuant to Rules 8 and 12(b)(6). (See generally D.E. No. 5). Indeed, the Court also noted Plaintiff’s history of litigiousness in this District, citing to other matters in which he has been notified of the pleading standards and yet failed to state a claim for relief. (Id. at 5–62). Accordingly, on January 27, 2023, this Court dismissed Plaintiff’s Complaint (D.E. No. 1) without prejudice and granted Plaintiff leave to amend. (D.E. No. 5 ¶ 10). On February 1, 2023, Plaintiff appealed this Court’s January 27, 2023 Order to the Third Circuit. (D.E. No. 7). On February 9, 2023, despite Plaintiff’s pending appeal, Judge Almonte granted Plaintiff’s request for a ninety- day extension to file an amended complaint. (D.E. No. 9). On June 27, 2023, the Third Circuit dismissed Plaintiff’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. (D.E. No. 16).

On August 18, 2023, this Court granted Plaintiff’s second request for an extension of time to file an amended complaint; thus, Plaintiff had until December 31, 2023, to submit an amended pleading. (D.E. No. 19). On October 19, 2023, Plaintiff filed the Amended Complaint. (D.E. No. 21). On the same day that Plaintiff filed the Amended Complaint, he also filed the “Motion for Writ of Mandamus, Prohibition, or Alternative.” (D.E. No. 22). This Court referred Plaintiff’s Motion to Judge Almonte for a report and recommendation.

On June 7, 2024, in a separate case filed by Plaintiff, the Honorable Susan D. Wigenton, U.S.D.J., ordered the Clerk of Court in the District of New Jersey “not to accept any filings or filing fees submitted by Palani Karupaiyan.” Karupaiyan v. Shalimar Grp. of Rests., No. 23-0844, D.E. No. 40 (the “Preclusion Order”) (D.N.J. June 7, 2024). The Preclusion Order notes that the Court has “received numerous letters and pleadings from Plaintiff Palani Karupaiyan that are incoherent, unintelligible, and generally fail to state any claim upon which relief may be granted” and that “such filings waste the time and resources of the Court.” (Id.).

On June 28, 2024, Judge Almonte entered his Report and Recommendation, recommending that the Motion be denied. (R&R at 1). Specifically, Judge Almonte found that Plaintiff had other adequate means to obtain the relief requested, which did not require the issuance of a writ. (Id. at 6 (citing In re Mujaddid, 762 F. App’x 124, 125 (3d Cir. 2019))). Judge Almonte noted that this Court’s screening of the Amended Complaint is “an adequate means by which Plaintiff may obtain the desired relief, if he is, in fact entitled to it.” (Id.). Thus, Judge Almonte found that the mandamus relief Plaintiff seeks could not be used “to circumvent [this] Court’s review of [his] Amended Complaint pursuant to § 1915(e)(2)(B).” (Id.). Significantly, Judge Almonte noted that the Preclusion Order had no bearing on the R&R. (Id. at 1 n.1).

2 See, e.g., Karupaiyan v. Atl. Realty Dev. Corp., 827 F. App’x 165, 167 (3d Cir. 2020) (“We agree with the District Court that Karupaiyan’s difficult-to-follow complaint fails to suggest the existence of any plausible claim.”); Karupaiyan v. Naganda, No. 20-12356, 2021 WL 3616724, at *2 (D.N.J. Aug. 12, 2021), aff’d, No. 21-2560, 2022 WL 327724 (3d Cir. Feb. 3, 2022) (“Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint is largely incoherent and partially illegible . . . .”); Karupaiyan v. Int’l SOS, No. 21-1853, 2021 WL 6102077, at *1 (3d Cir. Dec. 22, 2021) (affirming dismissal of Plaintiff’s similar allegations in a previous action and noting the complaint “lacked any comprehendible factual narrative”); Karupaiyan v. CVS Health Corp., No. 19-8814, 2021 WL 4341132, at *36 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 23, 2021) (explaining that despite having an opportunity to amend, the benefit of multiple rounds of pre-motion letters from defendants, and despite the court’s leeway in construing his claims liberally, “there remain fundamental deficiencies in most of Plaintiffs’ claims”). 2 Thereafter, Judge Almonte granted Plaintiff’s request for a thirty-day extension to object to the R&R. (D.E. Nos. 28 & 29). On August 2, 2024, Plaintiff filed objections to Judge Almonte’s Report and Recommendation. (D.E. No. 30).

Because this Court granted Plaintiff leave to amend his initial Complaint on January 27, 2023 and provided generous extensions for Plaintiff to amend his pleading on February 9, 2023 and August 18, 2023 (D.E. Nos. 5, 9 & 19)—all of which preceded the issuance of the June 7, 2024 Preclusion Order—the Court will screen Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915 (e)(2)(B). See Burrell v. Loungo, 750 F. App’x 149, 154 (3d Cir. 2018).

II.

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KARUPAIYAN v. TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES (TCS), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/karupaiyan-v-tata-consultancy-services-tcs-njd-2025.