Whitehead v. The Walt Disney Company

Opinion

DOCUMENT ELECTRONICALLY FILE! UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DOC #: SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK rr DATE FILED:_ 7/11/2025 DAVID LOUIS WHITEHEAD, Plaintiff, -against- 24-CV-02283 (MMG) THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY, et al., = Defendants.

MARGARET M. GARNETT, United States District Judge: On July 7, 2025, pro se Plaintiff Whitehead filed a letter-motion to consolidate an action recently filed by Whitehead in this District, Whitehead v. Universal Pictures et al., No. 25-CV- 05433, with the above-captioned action. The Court shall treat Whitehead’s letter-motion as a Statement of Relatedness and as a motion for consolidation under Rule 42(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Court finds that the Universal Pictures action 1s not sufficiently related with the above-captioned action under either Rule 13(a) of the Rules for Division of Business in this District or Rule 42(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Even if the alleged copyrighted work at issue in both actions is the same, the claims in each action appear to involve different defendants involving a different allegedly infringing work. Accordingly, Whitehead’s letter- motion is DENIED. Whitehead is reminded that the Court has held in abeyance all of his non-dispositive motions. See Dkt. No. 133. Whitehead is further reminded that “[a|ny additional motions filed by [him] prior to the resolution of Defendants’ pending motion to dismiss will be summarily denied, unless they seek relief that is necessarily time-sensitive and they appear on their face to be potentially meritorious.” Jd. The Court certifies, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3), that any appear from this Order would not be taken in good faith, and therefore in forma pauperis status is denied for the purpose of an appeal. See Coppedge v. United States, 369 U.S. 438, 444-45 (1962). The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to mail a copy of this Order to Whitehead. Dated: July 11, 2025 New York, New York SO ORDERED.

NARGA ; a United States District Judge