Corley v. Vance

365 F. Supp. 3d 407
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 27, 2019
Docket15 Civ. 1800 (KPF); 15 Civ. 9621 (KPF)
StatusPublished
Cited by63 cases

This text of 365 F. Supp. 3d 407 (Corley v. Vance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Corley v. Vance, 365 F. Supp. 3d 407 (S.D. Ill. 2019).

Opinion

KATHERINE POLK FAILLA, United States District Judge

In 2014, Plaintiff Royce Corley was convicted in this District on federal charges involving trafficking of minors and possession of child pornography. Now, proceeding pro se , Plaintiff brings two civil rights *426actions under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging claims arising out his investigation, arrest, and prosecution on earlier state charges that were ultimately subsumed by his federal case. In addition to his federal claims, Plaintiff asserts state-law claims over which he asks this Court to exercise supplemental jurisdiction.

Defendants Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., David Stuart, John Temples, Greg Weiss, Elizabeth Pederson (collectively, the "DA Defendants"); Brian Conroy, Michael Daly, Mark Woods, Jessica Sterling, Giancarlo Cavallo, Greg Smith, Shari C. Hyman (collectively, the "NYPD Defendants," and together with the DA Defendants, the "Government Defendants"); Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. ("Con Edison"), Michael T. Haggerty and Walter Panchyn (collectively, the "Con Edison Defendants"); T-Mobile USA Inc. ("T-Mobile"), Facebook Inc. ("Facebook"), Google Inc. ("Google"), Time Warner Cable Inc. ("TWC"), Municipal Credit Union ("MCU"), Capital One N.A. ("Capital One"), JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. ("Chase") (collectively, the "Corporate Defendants"); Michael J. Barry and Ports & Files, Inc. (collectively, the "Barry Defendants"); Glenn F. Hardy, Esq. and Glenn F. Hardy, P.C. (collectively, the "Hardy Defendants"); the Honorable Bonnie G. Wittner; and the City of New York (altogether, the "Moving Defendants") now move to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Separately, Justice Wittner moves to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(1) ; Facebook moves to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(2) ; and the DA Defendants move to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(5). For the reasons set forth in this Opinion, the motions are granted in part and denied in part.1

*427BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

Plaintiff filed his complaint in the first of his two civil rights cases, Corley v. Vance , No. 15 Civ. 1800, on January 13, 2015. (1800 Dkt. # 1).2 The 1800 Complaint alleged violations of the Constitution and of several federal statutes, including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act ("ECPA"), 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510 - 2523, the Stored Communications Act ("SCA"), 18 U.S.C. §§ 2701 - 2713, the Right to Financial Privacy Act ("RFPA"), 12 U.S.C. §§ 3401 - 3423, and the Driver's Privacy Protection Act ("DPPA"), 18 U.S.C. §§ 2721 - 25, as well as various state-law claims. The named defendants in that case include the DA Defendants, the NYPD Defendants, the Corporate Defendants, the Con Edison Defendants, and the City of New York. (Id. ).

The 1800 Complaint alleges that in 2007, Plaintiff "was informally doing business under the nom de guerre 'Ron Iron' providing advertising and web development services to escort, therapeutic and adult-oriented businesses." (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 5, 22). Subsequently, in 2008, Plaintiff began working as a technician for Con Edison. (Id. at ¶ 23). In 2009, an individual who had been convicted of promoting prostitution allegedly "vindictively" forwarded to law enforcement false information implicating Plaintiff in illegal activity. (Id. at ¶ 25). Plaintiff alleges that, in consequence, law enforcement officers: (i) induced a minor to work as a confidential informant and prostitute to manufacture evidence against Plaintiff; (ii) tampered with advertisements appearing on Backpage.com by "altering 'AdOId' posted by other individuals, or created by the defendants"; and (iii) used fabricated evidence to obtain court orders, subpoenas, and warrants. (Id. at ¶¶ 27-29, 37-41). Accordingly, it is alleged that despite using a warrant, "defendants had no probable cause" to obtain access to Plaintiff's accounts; to search his apartment and office at Con Edison; or to seize his cell phones, electronic media, and credit cards. (Id. at ¶¶ 47-48).

Plaintiff asserts that he "has not been provided with any court orders, subpoenas, warrants or notices in relation to any of these disclosures." (1800 Compl. ¶ 26). Backpage.com is further alleged to have "aided and abetted" law enforcement "by granting them unlimited access to password-protected accounts without the proper legal authority," while other of the Corporate Defendants are alleged to have provided law enforcement with Plaintiff's records, emails, and instant messages. (Id. at ¶¶ 24, 38, 60-62).

Initially, Plaintiff was charged by the Office of the District Attorney for New York County (the "DANY") in New York County Supreme Court. However, the state charges were dismissed on February 1, 2013. (1800 Compl. ¶ 46). Instead, Plaintiff was prosecuted federally by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (the "USAO"). (9621 Compl. ¶ 49). He was indicted in this District on January 22, 2013, and a superseding indictment was returned on October *42810, 2013. See United States v. Corley , No. 13 Cr. 48 (RPP/AJN) (S.D.N.Y.). Plaintiff was ultimately convicted of child exploitation and child pornography offenses in April 2014; his conviction was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on February 9, 2017, United States v. Corley , 679 F. App'x 1 (2d Cir. 2017) (summary order); and his petition for certiorari was denied by the United States Supreme Court on October 2, 2017, Corley v. United States , --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 205, 199 L.Ed.2d 135 (2017).

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Bluebook (online)
365 F. Supp. 3d 407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/corley-v-vance-ilsd-2019.