Judge Arthur Spatt
Plaintiffs' 2010 lawsuit was centered on Morales' Jan. 11 shooting by county police officer Mangual. The county, its police department, and John Doe officers opposed plaintiffs' April 16, 2013, motion to substitute Mangual for a Doe defendant. The court granted the motion, finding plaintiffs showed good cause to amend a Nov. 9, 2011, discovery order requiring pleadings to be amended by Jan. 24, 2012. It credited plaintiffs' claim they could not identify Mangual as the shooter until he testified, and signed his deposition transcript in March. Plaintiffs had acted within a month after identifying Mangual, whose deposition had been adjourned for many months due to unrelated medical leave. Further, although plaintiffs' claims against Mangual fell outside the statutes of limitations within 42 USC §§1981, 1983 and 1985, the relation back doctrine as outlined in Byrd v. Abate and Archibald v. City of Hartford was appropriate given defendants' inability to refute plaintiffs' assertions that Mangual's deposition was repeatedly adjourned. Quoting Archibald the court said plaintiffs should not be penalized for "[d]efendants' obstruction of [plaintiffs'] counsel's diligent efforts to determine the identities of the 'Doe' officers."
