Wann v. Theater Development Fund: an individual suit, dismissed

Case summary

Wann v. Theater Development Fund is a federal suit filed on 8 November 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, docket number 1:22-cv-09531. The plaintiff is Keith Wann. The defendants are the Theater Development Fund and Lisa Carling. On the docket retrieved on 23 Oct 2026 the case is closed, terminated on 7 December 2022 after the parties stipulated to a dismissal with prejudice.

It is not a class action, so no group claim, notice or deadline exists for it.

Claims as listed on the docket

The docket classifies the cause of action as 42 U.S.C. 1981, job discrimination on the basis of race, and records no jury demand. That one line is all this entry says about the substance. The complaint is one side's account, and a short record like this one does not reproduce allegations about named private individuals.

A reader who arrived expecting a case about some other subject should know that this entry addresses only what the docket itself shows.

Timeline of the docket

The complaint, a civil cover sheet and two requests for summonses were filed on 8 November 2022. The case was designated for electronic filing and assigned to Judge Analisa Torres on 9 November, with Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger designated as well. Summonses were issued on 10 November.

The same day the court entered three orders. The initial pretrial scheduling order (entry 7) directed counsel to submit a joint letter and a proposed case management plan by 10 March 2023. A second order allowed depositions by remote means, and a third asked the parties to discuss consenting to proceed before the magistrate judge.

On 18 November 2022 a lawyer, Raymond T. Mak, appeared for both defendants, and the plaintiff returned executed waivers of service for each of them. Under those waivers the defendants' answers were due on 9 January 2023.

They never came due. On 6 December 2022, entry 12, a stipulation of voluntary dismissal was filed, stating that the action was dismissed with prejudice as to Lisa Carling and the Theater Development Fund and without costs, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(ii). That rule lets the parties end a case themselves, signed by everyone who has appeared, without a ruling from the judge. The docket marks the case terminated the next day.

What the record does not show

No motion, answer or ruling on the merits appears. The case lasted 28 days from filing to stipulation. The entries retrieved give no reason for the dismissal, and a stipulated dismissal does not by itself show that money changed hands or on what terms. This entry therefore states no settlement.

With prejudice means the same claims cannot be brought again in federal court against these defendants.

Readers looking for a class to join

Searches that lead to a lawsuit page often come from people hoping to claim money or join a group. Only a certified class or a class settlement with an administrator and a published notice opens such a claim. Neither exists here. For how those cases differ from a single plaintiff's suit, see the explainer linked above; the last entry retrieved is number 12, the stipulation of 6 December 2022.