Corley v. Vance
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.
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
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"),
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 ,
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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
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"),
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 ,
As noted, the 1800 Complaint focuses on the conduct of law enforcement authorities before and immediately following Plaintiff's 2012 arrest. Plaintiff asserts claims under
On December 8, 2015, Plaintiff filed a second complaint, this one against New York State Supreme Court Justice Bonnie G. Wittner, the judge who presided over Plaintiff's state prosecution; Michael J. Barry, Plaintiff's appointed counsel in that case; criminal investigator Glenn F. Hardy and his company, Ports & Files, Inc., also appointed to assist in Plaintiff's defense; several members of the DANY; and the City of New York. (9621 Dkt. # 2). Whereas the 1800 Complaint focused on the investigative work undertaken preliminary to Plaintiff's 2012 arrest, the 9621 Complaint focused on the conduct of those involved in Plaintiff's state prosecution from its inception until the case was turned over to federal prosecutors.
In the 9621 Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that Justice Wittner and representatives of the DANY conspired (i) to establish a "quasi-grand jury" for the purpose of accessing, illegally, Plaintiff's communications and records (9621 Compl. ¶ 17); (ii) to "coerce or entice" an underage female to participate in an illegal sting operation against Plaintiff that would "manufacture" state-court jurisdiction over him (id. at ¶¶ 18, 24); (iii) to circumvent case assignment procedures so that Plaintiff's criminal case would be assigned to Justice Wittner (who, it is alleged, would then cover up the putative co-conspirators' prior misconduct, see
B. Procedural Background
The procedural history of each case spans more than four years, although each was stayed several times. First, on January 13, 2015, Plaintiff initiated the 1800 action. (1800 Dkt. # 1). On June 22, 2015, after reviewing the 1800 Complaint pursuant to
Plaintiff declined to amend the 1800 Complaint, and the Court dismissed it on December 2, 2015, for failure to comply with the Court's orders, with leave to replead within 30 days. (1800 Dkt. # 20). In lieu of repleading, Plaintiff appealed the Court's Order of Dismissal to the Second Circuit. (1800 Dkt. # 21). On May 6, 2016, the Second Circuit vacated the Order of Dismissal and remanded the case, ordering this Court to consider the 1800 Complaint on the merits. (1800 Dkt. # 23).
Several months later, the 9621 case, which had initially been assigned to United States District Judge John G. Koeltl, was transferred to this Court. Upon motion, both cases were stayed by the Court by orders dated September 16, 2016, so that Plaintiff could pursue his appeal from his criminal conviction. (1800 Dkt. # 97; 9621 Dkt. # 60). At the time these stays were entered, several of the defendants in the 9621 case - specifically, Defendants Hardy, Vance, Stuart, Temple, and Weiss - had filed motions to dismiss. (9621 Dkt. # 32, 43).
As previously stated, the Supreme Court denied Plaintiff's petition for certiorari in October 2017. See Corley ,
On June 19, 2018, the Court denied the motion for recusal, lifted the stays, and scheduled motion practice to occur concurrently in both matters. (1800 Dkt. # 152; 9621 Dkt. # 83). In September 2018, Plaintiff requested a 90-day extension to file his Opposition, from September 21, 2018, until December 20, 2018. (1800 Dkt. # 233; 9621 Dkt. # 107). The Court granted the request and ordered Defendants to respond to the Opposition on or before January 7, 2019. (1800 Dkt. # 234; 9621 Dkt. # 108). By letter dated December 12, 2018, Plaintiff again requested, and the Court again granted, an extension to file his Opposition, this time until January 25, 2019. (1800 Dkt. # 256-57; 9621 Dkt. # 114-15). Plaintiff's third request for an extension was denied on January 11, 2019. (1800 Dkt. # 262). Accordingly, Plaintiff filed his Opposition in late January 2019 (1800 Dkt. # 267-69; 9621 Dkt. # 117-19), and Defendants timely filed their briefs in reply (1800 Dkt. # 271-78; 9621 Dkt. # 120-26).3
*430DISCUSSION
A. Applicable Law
1. Motions Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1)
Several subsections of Rule 12(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are invoked by the Moving Defendants, and to contextualize its legal analysis, the Court presents the standards for each in this section. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) permits a party to move to dismiss a complaint for "lack of subject-matter jurisdiction." Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). "A case is properly dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1) when the district court lacks the statutory or constitutional power to adjudicate it." Lyons v. Litton Loan Servicing LP ,
2. Motions Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2)
When a defendant brings a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2), "the plaintiff bears the burden of establishing that the court has [personal] jurisdiction over the defendant." DiStefano v. Carozzi N. Am., Inc. ,
District courts deciding motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction typically engage in a two-part analysis. First , the court assesses whether there is "a statutory basis for exercising personal jurisdiction." Marvel Characters, Inc. v. Kirby ,
It is well established that "[a] district court's personal jurisdiction is determined by the law of the state in which the court is located."
*431Spiegel v. Schulmann ,
3. Motions Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(4) and 12(b)(5)
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(4) governs insufficient process, whereas Rule 12(b)(5) governs insufficient service of process. "Objections to sufficiency of process under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(4) must identify substantive deficiencies in the summons, complaint or accompanying documentation." Gianatasio v. D'Agostino , No. 11 Civ. 3095 (RWS),
Separately, "[b]efore a federal court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a defendant, the procedural requirement of service of summons must be satisfied." Omni Capital Int'l, Ltd. v. Rudolf Wolff & Co., Ltd. ,
"In deciding a Rule 12(b)(5) motion, a Court must look to Rule 4, which governs the content, issuance, and service of a summons." DeLuca v. AccessIT Grp., Inc. ,
Even where a plaintiff does not show good cause, district courts may exercise discretion to grant an extension of time to effect adequate service. See Zapata v. City of New York ,
4. Motions Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6)
When considering a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), a court must "draw all reasonable inferences in [the plaintiff's] favor, assume all well-pleaded factual allegations to be true, and determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief." Faber v. Metro. Life Ins. Co. ,
In addition, the Court is obligated to construe the submissions of pro se litigants like Plaintiff liberally "to raise the strongest arguments they suggest." Triestman v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons ,
In considering a motion to dismiss, the Court may consider matters of which judicial notice may be taken under Fed. R. Evid. 201, including public records such as Plaintiff's arrest reports, indictments, and criminal disposition data. See Kramer v. Time Warner Inc. ,
B. The Court Denies Wittner's Motion to Dismiss the 9621 Complaint Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1)
Justice Wittner argues that this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider Plaintiff's claims against her on the basis *433of sovereign immunity.4 "The Eleventh Amendment bars damages actions in federal court against a state and against state officials acting in their official capacities, unless the state waives sovereign immunity or Congress abrogates it." Chris H. v. New York ,
C. The Court Grants Defendant Facebook's Motion to Dismiss the 1800 Complaint Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(2)
Defendant Facebook, for its part, moves to dismiss the Complaint against it for lack of personal jurisdiction pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2). (1800 Dkt. # 185). Finding that the Court lacks both general and specific jurisdiction over this defendant, the Court grants Facebook's motion.
1. The Court Lacks General Jurisdiction over Facebook
A court's exercise of general jurisdiction under New York Civil Practice Law and Rules § 301 requires that "a company has engaged in such a continuous and systematic course of doing business in New York that a finding of its presence in New York is warranted." Sonera Holding B.V. v. Cukurova Holding A.S. ,
In its opening brief, Facebook argues that a district court in New York cannot properly exercise general jurisdiction over the company because Facebook is incorporated in Delaware and has a principal place of business in Menlo Park, California. (Facebook Br. 11). Facebook is correct that, broadly speaking, general jurisdiction does not lie over a party in a forum where that entity is neither incorporated nor maintains its principal place of business. Goodyear ,
*434Plaintiff counters that because Facebook is registered to do business in New York and has two offices in New York City, the Court is in fact able to exercise general jurisdiction over Defendant. (1800 Pl. Opp. 11). However, these contacts do not rise to the level required to "render [Defendant] essentially at home in [New York]." Goodyear ,
Plaintiff cannot support an argument that Facebook's activities in New York constitute an exceptional case where general jurisdiction would properly lie over a corporation "in a forum other than its formal place of incorporation or principal place of business." Daimler ,
2. The Court Lacks Specific Jurisdiction over Facebook
In his Opposition, Plaintiff focuses almost exclusively on establishing the Court's ability to exercise general jurisdiction over Facebook. However, he does reference, albeit obliquely, New York's long-arm statute. (See 1800 Pl. Opp. 11). The Court suspects that Plaintiff conflates general and personal jurisdiction and, thus, with the appropriate solicitude to Plaintiff's pro se status, it addresses whether Facebook is subject to specific jurisdiction under that statute.
New York's long-arm statute authorizes courts to exercise personal jurisdiction "over any non-domiciliary ... who in person or through an agent ... transacts any business within the state," so long as the cause of action "aris[es] from" that transaction.
A defendant transacts business within a state if it has "purposefully availed [it]self of the privilege of conducting activities within New York and thereby invoked the benefits and protections of its laws." United States v. Prevezon Holdings Ltd. ,
Plaintiff does not make any argument, either in the Complaint or his opposition, that his claims - all of which relate to Facebook's voluntary disclosure of his *435personal information - arise out of in-state business activity. In point of fact, it is almost certainly the case that Plaintiff's claims against Facebook arise out of the latter's activity in California, where its records custodians are located. (Facebook Br., Duffey Decl. ¶ 5). Accordingly, New York's long-arm statute does not confer jurisdiction over Plaintiff's claim against Facebook. See Best Van Lines, Inc. v. Walker ,
D. The Court Denies the DA Defendants' Motion to Dismiss the 1800 Complaint Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(5)
The DA Defendants move to dismiss the 1800 Complaint, as it pertains to them, for insufficient service of process under Rule 12(b)(5), arguing that they have not been served. (1800 DA Br. 29-30). As Plaintiff points out, they are incorrect. (1800 Pl. Opp. 10). All but one of the DA Defendants were served on August 17, 2018. (Id. ; 1800 Dkt. # 222-25). The remaining defendant, Elizabeth Pederson, waived service of summons on December 28, 2018. (1800 Dkt. # 261). In their reply, buried in a footnote, the DA Defendants concede that their initial representations to the Court regarding lack of service were incorrect. (1800 DA Reply 1 n.1). Despite that concession, "[t]he DA [D]efendants continue to rely on their argument that Plaintiff failed to effect personal jurisdiction[.]" (Id. ).
In light of Plaintiff's pro se status and his diligent communications with the Court regarding service issues, the Court will not dismiss the case for insufficient service. To begin, "as an incarcerated pro se litigant proceeding in forma pauperis , [Plaintiff] was entitled to rely on service by the U.S. Marshals." Romandette v. Weetabix Co. ,
As we observed in Grammenos v. Lemos ,457 F.2d 1067 , 1070 (2d Cir. 1972), Rule 4 of the Federal Rules is to be construed liberally "to further the purpose of finding personal jurisdiction in cases in which the party has received actual notice." We further noted that "incomplete or improper service will lead the court to dismiss the action unless it appears that proper service may still be obtained."Id.
Jaiyeola v. Carrier Corp. ,
In addition, the Court must "weigh the plaintiff's reasonable efforts and diligence against the prejudice to the defendant resulting from the delay." DeLuca ,
The DA Defendants were served with the Complaint Supplement, but not the Complaint, on September 27, 2016. (1800 Dkt. # 98).6 They promptly notified the Court of this deficiency. (Id. ). However, in their briefing, the DA Defendants ignore the fact that Plaintiff made repeated attempts to remedy any service errors. On October 19, 2016, Plaintiff submitted a response to the Court seeking clarification from the Marshals as to how, and with what documents, each DA Defendant had been served. (1800 Dkt. # 110). Because the case was then stayed pending resolution of Plaintiff's appeal of his underlying criminal conviction, the Court did not immediately resolve the issue. (1800 Dkt. # 114).
Given Plaintiff's diligence in communicating with the Court, he will not be found at fault for any service delays. Over the past four years, Plaintiff has repeatedly written to the Court providing service updates or seeking to verify the status of his service requests. (See, e.g. , 1800 Dkt. # 28, 43, 84, 110, 122, 128, 141, 153, 246, 251, 270). Cf. Meilleur v. Strong ,
Undeterred, the DA Defendants cite to Meilleur ,
E. The Court Dismisses Some, But Not All, of the Claims in the 1800 Complaint Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6)
The remaining arguments of the Moving Defendants are made pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), and concern Plaintiff's alleged failures to state a claim. The Court therefore proceeds to consider these claims on the merits, beginning with Plaintiff's claims in the 1800 Complaint, which focus on conduct before and immediately following Plaintiff's 2012 arrest.
Plaintiff brings a combination of constitutional, statutory, and state-law claims, many of which the Court previously addressed *437in its 2015 Order to Amend. (1800 Dkt. # 15). The Court will address each category of claims in turn, ultimately dismissing all of the claims in the 1800 Complaint with the exceptions of certain of Plaintiff's claims for malicious abuse of process and unlawful search and seizure.
1. Claims Under
Plaintiff brings federal claims under Section 1983, which establishes liability for deprivation, under the color of state law, "of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution."
As a prerequisite to an award of damages under Section 1983, a plaintiff must show the personal involvement of the defendants in the alleged constitutional deprivations. See Farrell v. Burke ,
A court may consider supervisory personnel to be "personally involved" if a plaintiff plausibly alleges facts showing that those defendants: (i) participated directly in the alleged constitutional violation; (ii) failed to remedy the wrong after being informed of it; (iii) created a policy or custom under which unconstitutional practices occurred, or allowed the continuance of such a policy or custom; (iv) were grossly negligent in supervising subordinates who committed the wrongful acts; or (v) exhibited deliberate indifference to the rights of citizens by failing to act on information indicating there were ongoing unconstitutional acts. Grullon v. City of New Haven ,
Municipal entities may be sued directly for constitutional violations pursuant to
A plaintiff may establish municipal liability under Monell in several ways, including by presenting evidence of
[i] an express policy or custom, [ii] an authorization of a policymaker of the unconstitutional practice, [iii] failure of the municipality to train its employees, which exhibits a "deliberate indifference" to the rights of its citizens, or [iv] a practice of the municipal employees that is "so permanent and well settled as to imply the constructive acquiescence of senior policymaking officials."
Biswas v. City of New York ,
2. The Court Dismisses in Part and Sustains in Part Plaintiff's Constitutional Claims Against the Government Defendants
a. Plaintiff's Speedy Trial, False Arrest, False Imprisonment, Fabrication of Evidence, and Malicious Prosecution Claims Are Barred by Heck
As pleaded, Plaintiff's speedy trial, false arrest, false imprisonment, fabrication of evidence, and malicious prosecution claims are barred because Plaintiff's criminal proceedings were not terminated in his favor, as required by Heck v. Humphrey ,
In Heck , the Supreme Court established a favorable termination requirement for § 1983 actions that do not "seek damages directly attributable to conviction or confinement but whose successful prosecution would necessarily imply that the plaintiff's criminal conviction was wrongful."
in order to recover damages for allegedly unconstitutional conviction or imprisonment, or for other harm caused by actions whose unlawfulness would render a conviction or sentence invalid, a § 1983 plaintiff must prove that the conviction or sentence has been reversed on direct appeal, expunged by executive order, declared invalid by a state tribunal authorized to make such determination, or called into question by a federal court's issuance of a writ of habeas corpus.
Plaintiff asserts that the dismissal of the state charges brought against him constitutes a favorable termination, and thus that none of his § 1983 claims is barred by Heck . (1800 Compl. ¶ 46; 1800 Pl. Opp. ¶ 26). A brief overview of the procedural history of the case - particularly the relationship between the state and federal charges - is necessary to address Plaintiff's argument.
To review, the NYPD arrested Plaintiff on January 25, 2012. (1800 Compl. ¶ 43; 1800 DA Br., Ante Decl., Ex. E at 3). On January 26, 2012, Plaintiff was presented in New York County Supreme Court on a felony complaint. (1800 Compl. ¶ 44; 1800 *439DA Br., Ante Decl., Ex. E at 3). The same day, a New York County grand jury filed an indictment charging Plaintiff with two counts of promoting prostitution. (Id. ). Plaintiff was arraigned on this indictment on February 15, 2012. (1800 DA Br., Ante Decl., Ex. E at 3).
On January 22, 2013, Corley was indicted in this District, on two counts of sex trafficking of a minor. See United States v. Corley , No. 13 Cr. 48 (AJN),
On April 21, 2014, Plaintiff was convicted on all three counts of his federal indictment after a jury trial. (1800 DA Br., Ante Decl., Ex. G). Plaintiff's conviction was upheld by the Second Circuit and his petition for writ of certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court. See United States v. Corley ,
In the instant action, Plaintiff argues that none of his claims is barred by Heck for a litany of reasons, including that: (i) the dismissal of the state indictment in 2013 was a termination in his favor (1800 Compl. ¶ 46; 1800 Pl. Opp. 26); (ii) his pending motions for a new trial under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33 and for vacatur pursuant to
Where, as here, "the Federal and State actions are inextricably intertwined and substantially related to one another, the Heck rule applies to bar Section 1983 claims based on the dismissed state charges." Bogle v. Melamed , No. 09 Civ. 1017 (RJD),
*440Plaintiff's remaining arguments do not compel a different conclusion. First , neither Plaintiff's pending motions, nor his eventual release, has any effect on the applicability of Heck . See Magnotta v. Putnam Cty. Sheriff , No. 13 Civ. 2752 (GBD) (GWG),
Finally , Plaintiff's argument that "Defendants willfully forfeited a trial to prove the strength of their case, [while trying] to ride on the coattails of a federal conviction," is nonsensical. (1800 Pl. Opp. 28). The DANY can hardly be said to have forfeited anything; it dismissed its indictment in favor of a federal indictment with additional charges and greater penalties. The result of the federal prosecution suggests the strength of the DANY's evidence. Despite the fact that Plaintiff may be "unable to reverse his federal conviction" (id. ), Defendants did not improperly invoke Heck , see
Given the lack of a favorable termination, the Court now examines which of Plaintiff's claims implicate the validity of his conviction and thus are barred by Heck . Count XII of the 1800 Complaint, Plaintiff's Sixth Amendment speedy trial claim, necessarily implies that his conviction was erroneous and must be dismissed. See Montane v. Pettie , No. 10 Civ. 4404 (ARR),
Plaintiff's false arrest and false imprisonment claims, in Counts VI and VII of the 1800 Complaint, are also barred because relief would imply the invalidity of Plaintiff's conviction. See Younger v. City of New York ,
In Counts IV and V of the 1800 Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that the Government Defendants fabricated and altered physical evidence and coerced informants into giving false statements. (1800 *441Compl. ¶¶ 37-41, 75-76). The Court construes these allegations as claims for fabrication of evidence, in violation of Plaintiff's right to a fair trial. See Garnett v. Undercover Officer C0039 ,
Finally, favorable termination is an element of a malicious prosecution claim. See Heck ,
b. Plaintiff's Claims for Substantive Due Process and Conspiracy to Violate His Due Process Rights Fail
As clarified in his 1800 Complaint and Opposition, Plaintiff's claims for "Outrageous Government Conduct" and "Harassment" are properly construed as substantive due process claims. (See 1800 Compl. ¶ 74; 1800 Pl. Opp. 13). Therefore, in order to survive a motion to dismiss, Plaintiff must allege government conduct that "is so egregious, so outrageous, that it may fairly be said to shock the contemporary conscience." Velez v. Levy ,
Plaintiff's claim for substantive due process includes ample factual allegations, including five additional pages of briefing on the issue in his Opposition. (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 27-33; 1800 Pl. Opp. 13-17). Length, however, does not equal substance: Plaintiff's briefing, even liberally read, distills to allegations that the Government Defendants used informants in the course of undercover operations. Specifically, Plaintiff claims that the Government Defendants worked with alleged prostitutes as confidential informants, while investigating alleged pimps and "individuals they believed to be associated with the Plaintiff." (1800 Compl. ¶ 30). Plaintiff does not indicate that the Government's conduct affected him. To the contrary, he asserts that he "declin[ed] to do any business" with any of the alleged informants. (Id. at ¶ 34).
The conduct alleged to have been undertaken by the Government Defendants does not shock the contemporary conscience. See Matican v. City of New York ,
Finally, Plaintiff's harassment claim lacks any factual development. Plaintiff merely claims that the Government Defendants "engag[ed] in a systematic and intentional pattern of harassment by abusing legal process to deliberately invade Plaintiff's privacy without probable cause[.]" (1800 Compl. ¶ 74). Although it reads Plaintiff's claims to raise the strongest arguments they suggest, the Court is not obligated to accept as true legal conclusions masquerading as factual allegations. See Rolon v. Henneman ,
Counts I and III of the 1800 Complaint are dismissed by reason of this analysis. By extension, Count II, which alleges conspiracy to violate Plaintiff's substantive due process rights, also fails. See Curley v. Vill. of Suffern ,
c. Plaintiff's Claim for Malicious Abuse of Process Survives in Part and Fails in Part
In Counts IX and X of the 1800 Complaint, Plaintiff advances two claims for malicious abuse of process. (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 80-81). First , Plaintiff alleges that the Government Defendants "arrest[ed] Plaintiff to compel his cooperation in Nuisance Abatement proceedings" (1800 Pl. Opp. 19), against "numerous Manhattan property owners" (1800 Compl. ¶ 50). Specifically, Plaintiff claims that during an interrogation in January 2012, one of the Government Defendants, Detective Woods, informed Plaintiff that the DA Defendants were "interested in Plaintiff's cooperation regarding the owners of apartment buildings alleged to be involved with illegal activities." (Id. at ¶ 49). When Plaintiff declined to cooperate, the Government Defendants arrested him. (Id. ). Second , Plaintiff claims that the Government Defendants, with knowledge that Plaintiff was seeking proof of employment with Con Edison to obtain lower bail, "disclos[ed] Grand Jury evidence to [Con Edison] which effectively caused his termination." (1800 Pl. Opp. 19).
To state a claim for malicious abuse of process under New York law, Plaintiff must allege "that defendant [i] employed regularly issued legal process to compel performance or forbearance of some act, [ii] with the intent to do harm without excuse or justification, and [iii] in order to obtain a collateral objective that is outside the legitimate ends of the process." Arrington v. City of New York ,
*443Plaintiff plausibly alleges the Government Defendants' collateral objective as to his first claim, but not his second. With regards to his first claim, Plaintiff has alleged that the Government Defendants "had an ulterior purpose or objective in facilitating his prosecution." See Savino ,
d. Plaintiff's Claims for Unlawful Search and Seizure Survive in Part and Fail in Part
Construed liberally, Plaintiff alleges four separate claims for unlawful searches in violation of the Fourth Amendment in Count VIII of the 1800 Complaint. The first three searches occurred on January 25, 2012, the day of his arrest; the fourth search took place on February 1, 2012. The Court addresses each alleged violation in turn.
i. The Search Incident to Arrest
In his first unlawful search claim, Plaintiff alleges that after he was arrested on January 25, 2012, "two cellphones, electronic media and credit cards" were "removed from his person[.]" (1800 Compl. ¶ 47). The Court understands the allegations to be a claim of unlawful search incident to arrest.10
The Fourth Amendment, incorporated against the states by the Fourteenth Amendment, guarantees all individuals the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. See, e.g. , Mapp v. Ohio ,
*444Although probable cause is not to be inferred from the allegations in a complaint, "an individual's criminal conviction conclusively establishes the existence of probable cause for his arrest," for the purposes of a § 1983 action. Kennedy v. City of New York , No. 12 Civ. 4166 (KPF),
ii. The Workplace Search
Also on the day of his arrest, Plaintiff's office was searched, and his work computer seized without a warrant. (1800 Compl. ¶ 47). This search forms the factual basis of Plaintiff's second unlawful search claim.
"In the workplace context, the Supreme Court has recognized that 'employees may have a reasonable expectation of privacy against intrusions by police.' " United States v. Yudong Zhu ,
Here, the DA Defendants argue - and the Court agrees - that the Complaint fails to allege that Plaintiff has any expectation of privacy in his office or his work computer. (1800 DA Br. 12). In his opposition, Plaintiff counters that such an argument is "meritless" because, under O'Connor , the Supreme Court has *445recognized that employees may have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the workplace. (1800 Pl. Opp. 19). See also O'Connor ,
iii. The Warranted Searches
Plaintiff's final two claims for unlawful search involve warranted searches. First , Plaintiff alleges that at the same time his office was being searched, Plaintiff's apartment was searched without probable cause and "pursuant to a search warrant based on the bogus sting operation, stale evidence, fabricated evidence, and tampered witness statements." (1800 Compl. ¶ 47). Second , on February 1, 2012, Plaintiff's "cell phone and electronic media" were searched "pursuant to a search warrant based on the bogus sting operation, fabricated evidence and false statements." (Id. at ¶ 48).
To challenge a warranted search as unlawful pursuant to § 1983, "a plaintiff must make a 'substantial preliminary showing' that the affiant knowingly and intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth, made a material false statement in applying for the warrant." Calderon v. City of New York ,
Here, Plaintiff offers appropriately specific allegations that, taken as true for purposes of this motion, just satisfy the pleading threshold. See Velardi v. Walsh ,
Plaintiff plausibly pleads, with sufficient factual detail at this stage of the litigation, that the Government Defendants conducted unlawful searches of his home and electronic media. Thus, Plaintiff's third and fourth claims for unlawful search survive.
e. Plaintiff's Privacy Claim Fails
In his final constitutional claim, Plaintiff alleges a violation to his right to privacy under the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution. (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 60, 84). Plaintiff alleges that the Government Defendants and certain of the Corporate Defendants, including the Con Edison Defendants, T-Mobile, Facebook, Google, TW, MCU, Capital One, and Chase (collectively, *446the "Privacy Defendants"), violated his right to privacy "by intentionally accessing, intercepting or disclosing Plaintiff's communications, personal information and financial records, which Plaintiff had a reasonable expectation of privacy in, or willfully aided, abetted, counseled, commanded and induced the acts thereof[.]" (Id. at ¶ 84).
Plaintiff's privacy claims suffer from two deficiencies. First , Plaintiff's claims against the Privacy Defendants are subject to dismissal for failure to allege state action. See DeMatteis v. Eastman Kodak Co. ,
Second , and more fundamentally, the Complaint is devoid of any factual allegations in support of Plaintiff's claim. Plaintiff's conclusory allegation that certain defendants violated his right to privacy by intercepting and voluntarily disclosing his personal information, without any specific allegations, is insufficient to defeat the motions to dismiss. Because a complaint must provide "the grounds upon which [the plaintiff's] claim rests through factual allegations sufficient to raise a right to relief above the speculative level ," Twombly ,
f. The Record Does Not Permit the Court to Resolve All of the Government Defendants' Arguments for Immunity
Having determined that Plaintiff has plausibly pleaded claims for malicious abuse of process and unlawful search and seizure, the Court now considers whether any of the Government Defendants is entitled to immunity.12
With regards to the DA Defendants, absolute immunity bars a civil suit against a prosecutor for conduct that is "intimately associated with the judicial phase of the criminal process." Imbler v. Pachtman ,
Relatedly, the NYPD Defendants enjoy a qualified immunity that shields *447them from personal liability for damages under § 1983 insofar as their "conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known, or it was objectively reasonable for [him or her] to believe that [his or her] actions were lawful at the time of the challenged act." Jenkins v. City of New York ,
i. The Court Cannot Decide Whether the Government Defendants Are Immune from Liability on Plaintiff's Unlawful Search Claims
To review, Plaintiff's third and fourth unlawful search claims involve, respectively, the January 25, 2012 search of Plaintiff's apartment, and the February 1, 2012 search of Plaintiff's cell phones and electronic media, "pursuant to a search warrant based on the bogus sting operation, fabricated evidence and false statements." (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 47-48). Although the Court recognizes "the importance of resolving the question of qualified immunity at the earliest possible stage in litigation," see Allah v. Goord ,
For starters, the Court does not have adequate information to determine whether, as argued by the DA Defendants, the prosecutors are entitled to absolute immunity for drafting and obtaining the search warrants. (See 1800 DA Br. 15-16 (citing Parker v. Zugibe , No. 16 Civ. 4265 (KMK),
For that reason, prior to ruling on immunity, it is critical for the Court to determine Plaintiff's "precise claim." Burns ,
For the same reason, the Court cannot determine, at this juncture, whether the NYPD Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity. "Where an officer knows, or has reason to know, that he has materially misled a magistrate on the basis for a finding of probable cause, the shield of qualified immunity is lost." Rivera ,
ii. The DA Defendants Are Entitled to Absolute Immunity on Plaintiff's Malicious Abuse of Process Claim; the Court Cannot Decide the Issue with Regard to the NYPD Defendants
Turning to the malicious abuse of process claim, Plaintiff alleges that Detective Woods informed him that the DA Defendants were interested in Plaintiff's cooperation in New York nuisance abatement proceedings. (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 49, 50). When Plaintiff declined to cooperate, the DANY brought charges. (Id. at ¶ 49). Of course, prosecutors are entitled to absolute immunity for acts taken "in initiating a prosecution and in presenting the State's case." Smith v. Garretto ,
The Second Circuit has held that a prosecutor may lose her shield of absolute immunity when she agrees to forgo prosecution in exchange for certain concessions by the accused. See Doe v. Phillips ,
The Second Circuit has provided several examples of conditions that are beyond a prosecutor's authority, including demands for bribes or sexual favors, see Schloss v. Bouse ,
Here, the condition allegedly imposed by the DA Defendants is more akin to the latter, permissible set of cases than the former. For that reason, the DA Defendants retain absolute immunity, and Plaintiff's remaining malicious abuse of process claim is dismissed as to them. However, for the reasons stated above, the Court is unable on this record to decide the issue whether the NYPD Defendants enjoy qualified immunity. Therefore, Plaintiff's remaining malicious abuse of process claim as to the DA Defendants is dismissed, and as to the NYPD Defendants is sustained.13
*4493. The Court Dismisses Plaintiff's Claims in the 1800 Complaint Against New York City
As stated above, municipal entities may be sued directly for constitutional violations pursuant to § 1983. See Monell ,
The 1800 Complaint includes broad, conclusory allegations that the City is liable, pursuant to Monell , for all of the constitutional violations just discussed. (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 66-67). However, the Complaint is bereft of any factual allegations explaining how municipal liability is established, with two exceptions: Plaintiff's allegations that (i) the City and the Government Defendants "have created a policy and custom of deliberately implementing unconstitutional sting operations to aid in the enforcement of nuisance abatement proceedings," and (ii) the Government Defendants "adopted a practice of coercing individuals to engage in prostitution to facilitate the investigation of suspected promoters." (Id. at ¶ 67).
Beginning with the second alleged policy, Plaintiff's Monell claim is dismissed. The Court has already found that, even construing the pleadings liberally, the Government Defendants' alleged practice of "facilitating prostitution" merely amounts to allegations that these Defendants met with alleged prostitutes and used, or considered using, them as confidential informants in their criminal investigations. Because the Court has already determined that Plaintiff failed adequately to plead an underlying constitutional violation involving the alleged coercion of individuals into prostitution, Plaintiff's Monell claim on this same theory fails. See Ferguson v. Cai , No. 11 Civ. 6181 (PAE),
In contrast, Plaintiff has sufficiently alleged a malicious abuse of process violation. Therefore, his claims for municipal liability regarding the City's use of sting operations for nuisance proceedings cannot be dismissed for lack of an underlying constitutional violation. However, this claim fails for a different reason: the "official policy" allegations do not include, and cannot be amended to include, factual detail. The 1800 Complaint offers nothing beyond the bald assertion that the "[Government Defendants] have created a policy *450and custom of deliberately implementing unconstitutional sting operations to aid in the enforcement of nuisance abatement proceedings under N.Y.C. Administrative Code § 7-703(a) and state law." (1800 Compl. ¶ 67).
"To state there is a policy does not make it so. And while a plaintiff need not assert the allegations in the initial complaint with a level of specificity only made possible through discovery," Betts v. Shearman , No. 12 Civ. 3195 (JPO),
4. The Court Dismisses Plaintiff's Statutory Claims
In addition to bringing constitutional claims in the 1800 Complaint, Plaintiff alleges violations of federal statutes governing access to wire, oral, and electronic communications, namely the ECPA, the SCA, the RFPA, and the DPPA. Because the Complaint fails to plead facts showing a violation of any of these statutes, Plaintiff's claims in Counts XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, and XXI are dismissed.14
a. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act and Stored Communications Act
The privacy of stored Internet communications is governed by the SCA, which was enacted as, and remains, part of the ECPA. The SCA mandates different standards the Government must satisfy to compel disclosure of different types of communications, see
In brief, Plaintiff alleges that the Government Defendants unlawfully accessed, intercepted, and altered his electronic communications in violation of the ECPA and the SCA. (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 86, 88). In addition, Plaintiff alleges that certain of the Corporate Defendants - including T-Mobile, Facebook, Google, TWC, MCU, Capital One, and Chase - were complicit in this process and knowingly divulged his records to the Government Defendants. (Id. at ¶¶ 87, 89).
Plaintiff's threadbare allegations that the Government Defendants violated the ECPA and SCA are not sufficiently detailed to survive a motion to dismiss. Plaintiff paints in broad strokes - alleging that the Government Defendants intercepted his communications "through" the Corporate Defendants, and then altered some of those communications "without the required warrant, notice with administrative subpoena or court order, or other appropriate legal authority[.]" (1800 *451Compl. ¶¶ 86, 88). Plaintiff claims to have become aware of these violations in June 2013 "from federal discovery disclosures," presumably related to his criminal case. (Id. at ¶ 63).
Significantly, however, Plaintiff's proffered evidence does not support his allegations. Indeed, in the 1800 Complaint, rather than "plead[ing] factual content that allows the court to draw the inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged," Plaintiff merely regurgitates the elements of each statute. Iqbal ,
The Court observes that Plaintiff has not made a single factual allegation regarding the Government Defendants' failure to comply with ECPA's statutory notice requirements. (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 26, 88). Instead, Plaintiff states that he "has not been provided with any court orders, subpoenas, warrants or notices in relation to any of these disclosures." (Id. at ¶ 26). Although Government entities are subject to notice requirements under the ECPA and the SCA, those obligations vary depending on the category of information being sought. See Orin S. Kerr, A User's Guide to the Stored Communications Act, and A Legislator's Guide to Amending It , 72 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1208, 1222 (2004). In addition, when notice is required, such notice may be delayed for significant periods of time. See id. at 1233-34. Without additional factual allegations, the Court cannot find that the Government Defendants were subject to - much less in violation of - any notice requirements.
Similarly, Plaintiff's claims against the Corporate Defendants lack sufficient detail. Here again, Plaintiff merely recites the statutory language, alleging that the service providers unlawfully disclosed his subscriber records without the required legal process or notice. (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 26, 86, 89). The Corporate Defendants argue, as suggested by this Court in its prior Order, that the statutes contain defenses for releasing information pursuant to a court order. (See T-Mobile Br. 9-10; TWC Br. 2-6). See Corley ,
Under Section 2702, a provider "may divulge the contents of a communication" to a law enforcement agency, if the contents "appear to pertain to the commission of a crime."
b. The Right to Financial Privacy Act
Next, Plaintiff argues that the DA Defendants, with the assistance of Corporate Defendants MCU, Capital One, and Chase (collectively, the "RFPA Defendants"), violated his right to privacy under the RFPA. (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 90-91). The RFPA is intended to protect the privacy of customer's financial records held by banks and other financial institutions. To that end, the statute curbs access to financial records by government entities, while protecting the Government's interest in obtaining records relevant to a legitimate law enforcement investigation. See
Similar to his ECPA claims, Plaintiff alleges that the DA Defendants improperly accessed his financial records without proper legal process, and that the RFPA Defendants improperly disclosed those records to the City of New York. (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 90-91). As a threshold matter, the RFPA Defendants argue that Plaintiff's RFPA claim fails because the statute does not apply to state authorities. (See Chase Br. 9-10; Capital One Br. 9-10). "[T]he RFPA only governs and protects against the disclosure of financial records to the federal government ." Barroga-Hayes v. Susan D. Settenbrino, P.C. , No. 10 Civ. 5298 (RJD),
In his Opposition, Plaintiff "concedes that the RFPA allegations are deficient because the Complaint is silent regarding a federal authority" (1800 Pl. Opp. 21), but makes additional factual allegations that this Court will consider, see Walker ,
Despite having cured this defect in his pleadings, Plaintiff still does not state a claim under the RFPA. Again, the Court's analysis is similar to its exploration of Plaintiff's ECPA and SCA claims. Again, Plaintiff's claims consist exclusively of conclusory statements of legal standards *453with no substantiating factual allegations. For instance, Plaintiff alleges that the Government Defendants "knowingly accessed and obtained copies of the information contained in the financial records of [Plaintiff] from financial institutions," (1800 Compl. ¶ 90), but provides no facts about this allegedly unlawful access. This recitation of statutory elements cannot, and does not, suffice to plead a claim.
c. The Driver's Privacy Protection Act
Plaintiff brings his final statutory claim under the DPPA,
Plaintiff alleges that the Government Defendants made false representations regarding their legal authority to obtain Plaintiff's records from several of the Corporate Defendants, including Con Edison, MCU, Capital One, and Chase (collectively, the "DPPA Defendants"). (1800 Compl. ¶ 92). In turn, the DPPA Defendants "disclosed copies of Plaintiff's New York State Driver's Identification card, photograph and social security number to agents of the City of New York." (Id. at ¶ 93).
Plaintiff's DPPA claim suffers from the same fundamental pleading deficiencies as his other statutory claims: It recites standards with no supporting factual allegations. Plaintiff has not pleaded that the Government or Corporate Defendants caused any DMV search to be made. And there are numerous alternative plausible explanations for the disclosures. If the records were obtained through other means - for example, if Plaintiff provided identification to Capital One when applying for a bank account - any subsequent disclosure would fall outside of the purview of the DPPA. See Fontanez v. Skepple ,
5. The Court Dismisses Plaintiff's State-Law Claims
In addition to his federal claims, Plaintiff brings three state-law claims in the 1800 Complaint: negligent infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, and fraud. A court may decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction if "the district court has dismissed all claims over which it has original jurisdiction." Kroshnyi v. U.S. Pack Courier Servs., Inc. ,
*454Here, the Court has not dismissed all of Plaintiff's federal claims. Several of Plaintiff's unlawful search and malicious abuse of process claims remain. For that reason, the Court exercises its discretion to retain supplemental jurisdiction, and considers the merits of Plaintiff's claims.
a. Plaintiff's Claim for Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress Fails
Plaintiff's first state-law claim, against all Defendants, is for negligent infliction of emotional distress. (1800 Compl. ¶ 95). A claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress under New York law requires "showing 'a breach of a duty of care resulting directly in emotional harm ... even though no physical injury occurred,' as long as 'the mental injury [is] a direct, rather than a consequential, result of the breach, and the claim ... possess[es] some guarantee of genuineness." Mortimer v. City of New York , No. 15 Civ. 7186 (KPF),
In a complaint that is at times light on factual allegations, Plaintiff's allegations regarding negligent infliction of emotional distress are the lightest. In total, the 1800 Complaint claim alleges only the following:
The defendants' intentional and grossly negligent acts and omissions collectively caused the Plaintiff to suffer emotional distress from the false arrest, public disclosure of personal matters, searches of the body, home and office, over one year of oppressive confinement on Rikers Island, loss of employment, public scrutiny in the media and loss of consortium.
(1800 Compl. ¶ 64). In his Opposition, Plaintiff provides additional information, but only with respect to damages, clarifying that "the acts of Defendants caused the Plaintiff to suffer over a year incarcerated which threatened his physical safety." (1800 Pl. Opp. 22).
Plaintiff's claim falls far short of the standard for pleading negligent infliction of emotional distress. Among other things, Plaintiff does not indicate what "intentional and grossly negligent acts" form the basis of this claim. Nor does Plaintiff allege any special duty owed to him by any of the defendants, as required under New York law. See Mortise v. United States ,
Even if the Court were to consider factual allegations made elsewhere in the Complaint that might tangentially be related to this claim, Plaintiff's claim would still fail. The conduct that Plaintiff ascribes to each of the 1800 Defendants is "intentional and deliberate and allegedly in their nature offensive" - and therefore "outside the ambit of actionable negligence." Jones v. Trane ,
*455b. Plaintiff's Claim for Gross Negligence Fails
Plaintiff also brings a claim for gross negligence, based on two incidents: (i) the allegedly unlawful search of his office; and (ii) the disclosure his personal information to Government Defendants. (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 96-97). As to the first claim, Plaintiff alleges that the Con Edison Defendants "act[ed] negligently as vigilantes," and owed Plaintiff "the duty of not unnecessarily participating in a warrantless arrest[.]" (Id. at ¶ 96). In his second claim, Plaintiff alleges that Corporate Defendants T-Mobile, Facebook, Google, TWC, MCU, Capital One, and Chase (collectively, the "Gross Negligence Defendants") disclosed his personal information to the Government Defendants, despite owing him "the duty of protecting personal information, communications and financial records from disclosure to unauthorized third-parties." (Id. at ¶ 97).18
As discussed by Defendants, gross negligence "differs in kind as well as degree from ordinary negligence." Kinsey v. Cendant Corp. , No. 04 Civ. 582 (RWS),
Neither instance identified by Plaintiff - the unlawful office search or the disclosure of private information to the Government - rises to the level of gross negligence, even with the inclusion of Plaintiff's allegations to the effect that the Gross Negligence Defendants "not only acted carelessly in making a mistake, but that [they were] so extremely careless that it was equivalent to recklessness." Travelers Indem. Co. of Conn. v. Losco Grp., Inc. ,
Similarly, the Court cannot sustain Plaintiff's second variation of his claim, in which he alleges that disclosures on the part of any of the Gross Negligence Defendants were grossly negligent. The Court has already determined that Plaintiff *456has not adequately alleged that any of these defendants disclosed his personal information in violation of any constitutional or statutory rights. As a result, the Court cannot find that any of the alleged disclosures were "so extremely careless that [they were] equivalent to recklessness." Travelers ,
c. Plaintiff's Claim for Fraud Fails
As his final state-law claim in the 1800 Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that the Government Defendants aided and abetted a fraud perpetrated by Defendant Backpage.com. (1800 Compl. ¶¶ 65, 98-99; 1800 Pl. Opp. 23). The Court finds that Plaintiff's allegations of the underlying fraud are both conclusory and not plausibly pleaded; as a result, it does not reach the issue of whether the Government Defendants aided and abetted Backpage.com in perpetrating a fraud.
To prove fraud in New York, a plaintiff must allege, "[i] that the defendant made a representation, [ii] as to a material fact, [iii] which was false, [iv] and known to be false by the defendant, [v] that the representation was made for the purpose of inducing the other party to rely upon it, [vi] that the other party rightfully did so rely, [vii] in ignorance of its falsity [viii] to his injury." Brown v. Lockwood ,
Plaintiff alleges here that Defendant Backpage.com committed the underlying fraud through their Terms of Service:
Defendants Backpage committed common law fraud by omitting from their "Terms of Service" that their online advertisement service is a covert tool for law enforcement, giving them unrestricted access to subscriber information and financial records without any legal authority. Plaintiff reasonably believed that all communications and transactions with the online service backpage.com would be unaccessible to a third-party.
(1800 Compl. ¶ 65). The Government Defendants are alleged to have aided and abetted this fraud by "inducing" Backpage.com to grant access to its service without proper legal authorization. (Id. at ¶ 99).
Particularly given the dictates of Rule 9(b), Plaintiff's conclusory allegations of fraud are unsupported by any facts and inadequate to state a claim. The 1800 Complaint contains no factual allegations regarding the use of Backpage.com as a "covert tool for law enforcement," or its alleged use or misuse by the Government Defendants, as would be necessary to state a claim for fraud. Indeed, there is nothing to suggest that the website is anything other than a legitimate, third-party site. Moreover, the notion that Backpage.com was obligated to advise those patrons who might be interested in using its services to engage in criminal conduct that it would comply with law enforcement inquiries into such conduct, is wholly implausible. The claim is dismissed.
F. The Court Dismisses the 9621 Complaint in Full
The Court now turns to Plaintiff's 9621 action. Sharing a common factual nucleus *457with the 1800 action, the 9621 Complaint focuses on the conduct of those involved in Plaintiff's state prosecution from its inception until the case was turned over to the federal prosecutors. As set forth in the remainder of this section, and unlike its sister case, none of the claims in the 9621 Complaint survives the motions to dismiss.
1. Plaintiff's Speedy Trial, Fair Trial, and Selective Prosecution Claims Are Barred by Heck
In Count III of the 9621 Complaint, Plaintiff brings a speedy trial claim under
In addition, to the extent Plaintiff's obstruction of justice claim (Count IV) is construed as a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial, it is similarly barred by Heck . See Barnes v. City of New York , No. 13 Civ. 7283 (GBD) (JLC),
Finally, to the extent Plaintiff's allegations of violations of his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection are construed as selective prosecution claims (see Count V), those claims are also barred by Heck . Cf. Leather v. Eyck ,
2. Plaintiff's Privacy Claim Fails
In Count I of the 9621 Complaint, Plaintiff asserts a violation of his "first and fourth amendment rights to privacy." (9621 Compl. ¶ 60). In this regard, Plaintiff alleges that Justice Wittner and the DA Defendants "established a quasi-grand jury to issue subpoenas, court orders, etc.; with the intent to illegally obtain access to Plaintiff's personal electronic communications, bank records, phone records and conversations, etc." (Id. at ¶ 17).
The DA Defendants argue that "Plaintiff fails to allege what is a 'Quasi Grand Jury,' the difference between a Grand Jury and a 'Quasi Grand Jury,' how the 'Quasi Grand Jury' violated the laws of New York governing Grand Juries, and what was the 'personal information' that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in." (9621 DA Br. 8). The Court agrees that allegations detailing the existence and characteristics of Quasi Grand Juries, and detailing the precise information injuriously disclosed, would be necessary for Plaintiff's claim to survive, and are absent here. More pointedly, nothing in Plaintiff's Complaint or Opposition suggests that he could advance plausible, non-conclusory allegations that Justice Wittner and the DA Defendants concocted a faux grand jury solely, or even principally, to obtain information about Plaintiff illegally; the progress and resolution of his prosecutions suggests that the necessary probable cause for such requests was always present. Once again, Plaintiff has failed to sufficiently allege a claim, and Count I of the 9621 Complaint is dismissed.
3. Plaintiff's Substantive Due Process Claims Fail
At his request, the Court construes Plaintiff's claims for outrageous government conduct, obstruction of justice, and equal protection as substantive due process claims. (See 9621 Pl. Opp. 19 ("Treatment of Count II (Outrageous Government Conduct) as a 'substantive due process' claim is most appropriate[.]"); 9621 Compl. ¶ 63 (pleading obstruction of justice claim as a violation of Plaintiff's right to due process); 9621 Pl. Opp. 19 ("With respect to Count V (Equal Protection), this claim is obviously an 'equal protection' claim that is clearly alleged. However it is also a 'substantive due process' claim because it also deals with 'Plaintiff's vindictive federal prosecution[.]' ") ). These allegations, taken together, form the heart of the 9621 Complaint.
To review, "[t]o establish a violation of substantive due process rights, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the state action was so egregious, so outrageous, that it may fairly be said to shock the contemporary conscience. See Okin v. Vill. of Cornwall-On-Hudson Police Dep't ,
Plaintiff offers one slight tweak to his factual allegations in the 9621 Complaint: He alleges that Justice Wittner "induced [an alleged confidential informant who had been apprehended on prostitution charges] to engage in prostitution," by threatening her with prosecution, an unfavorable disposition, or offering her something of value. (9621 Compl. ¶ 18). While these allegations disturb the Court, they are conclusorily, and thus insufficiently, pleaded. The 9621 Complaint includes 11 paragraphs related to the conduct of the DA Defendants, but only a few assertions regarding Justice Wittner's involvement. (Id. at ¶¶ 18-28). Additional factual allegations would be needed to "nudge [Plaintiff's] claims across the line from conceivable to plausible." In re Elevator Antitrust Litig. , 502 F.3d at 50. On the record before it, which includes the factual arguments made by Plaintiff in opposition to these motions, the Court finds that Plaintiff has not alleged, and cannot plausibly allege, that Justice Wittner and the DA Defendants compelled a prostitute to engage in prostitution - as distinguished from engaging in sting operations in which she may have held herself out as a prostitute. This claim is therefore dismissed.
Next, Plaintiff alleges that the DA Defendants and Justice Wittner solicited the USAO to prosecute him. (9621 Compl. ¶¶ 36-49). And when the USAO declined to prosecute, ostensibly for "lack of interest" (id. at ¶ 40), Plaintiff's defense counsel, Glenn Hardy, is alleged to have hired private investigator Michael Barry "to publicize Plaintiff's case, with the intent of enticing the U.S. Attorney to take the case" (id. at ¶ 41). In his Opposition, Plaintiff also claims that "[t]he goal was to embarrass the Plaintiff in the media hoping that he would quickly plead guilty to get the matter over with." (9621 Pl. Opp. 24). Barry visited Plaintiff while he was incarcerated, but then, allegedly, sold Plaintiff's story to the media. (9621 Compl. ¶¶ 42-43). Shortly thereafter, it is alleged, the USAO expressed an interest in Plaintiff's case, and the DA Defendants arranged to transfer prosecution. (Id. at ¶ 46).
Plaintiff's substantive due process allegations related to this sequence of events fail for a number of reasons. To begin, the allegations do not withstand scrutiny and implicate, even more than some of Plaintiff's other allegations, the plausibility inquiry that inheres in Rule 12(b)(6). As clarified by Defendants, and as not disputed by Plaintiff, Hardy was assigned to Corley's case through the New York County Assigned Counsel Defender Plan. (See Hardy Br. 3). Barry, in turn, was an investigator assigned through the same program to assist Hardy in preparing Plaintiff's defense. (Gotlin Decl. ¶ 3). Plaintiff's conclusory allegations that his defense team acted at the behest of Justice Wittner and the DA Defendants are neither well pleaded nor tethered to logic and common sense. Among other things, Plaintiff is unable to explain why Hardy would have any interest in securing Plaintiff's prompt guilty plea or piquing the interest of the USAO; indeed, the two goals are mutually contradictory. Plaintiff is similarly unable to tie Barry, whose job required him to visit Plaintiff in jail, to the publication of an article about Plaintiff's case. Without more, Plaintiff's attempt to link together - and ascribe constitutionally violative motives to - a multitude of seemingly unrelated occurrences fails. See *460McNaughton v. de Blasio , No. 14 Civ. 221 (KPF),
In any event, Hardy and Barry were not state actors, as required under § 1983. See Krug v. McNally ,
Nor has Plaintiff sufficiently alleged "such a 'close nexus between the State and the challenged action' that seemingly private behavior 'may be fairly treated as that of the State itself.' " Abdullahi ,
Finally, Plaintiff alleges that the DA Defendants maintained a racist policy of prosecution, which policy he claims to be the reason for his arrest and imprisonment. (9621 Compl. ¶¶ 54-55). In his Opposition, Plaintiff clarifies that this set of facts also alleges "a 'substantive due process' claim because it deals with 'Plaintiff's vindictive federal prosecution.' " (9621 Pl. Opp. 19). Plaintiff is correct that a claim of vindictive prosecution implicates due process concerns. See Class v. United States , --- U.S. ----,
First , Plaintiff has failed to plead the elements of a vindictive prosecution claim. In the criminal context, the Second Circuit has explained that a prosecution brought to " 'penaliz[e] those who choose to exercise' constitutional rights[ ] 'would be patently unconstitutional.' " United States v. Sanders ,
Second , in order for Plaintiff to prevail on his claim, he would have to prove that he was singled out for prosecution simply because of his race. Proof of such facts would imply the invalidity of Plaintiff's criminal conviction. Accordingly, his claim is barred by Heck . See Sanders v. United States , No. 01 Civ. 5447 (JS) (WDW),
Third , and finally, the DA Defendants would be entitled to absolute immunity for this claim. See Giraldo v. Kessler ,
4. The Majority of Plaintiff's Claims Against Judge Wittner Are Barred by Judicial Immunity
Apart from failing on the merits, the majority of Plaintiff's allegations against Judge Wittner are barred by judicial immunity. "It is well settled that judges generally have absolute immunity from suits for money damages for their judicial action." Shtrauch v. Dowd ,
To the extent Judge Wittner is not completely shielded by judicial immunity, it is due to the fact that Plaintiff has strategically pleaded that Judge Wittner was involved in law enforcement undercover operations. (9621 Compl. ¶ 18). "At the margins, it can be difficult to distinguish between those actions that are judicial, and which therefore receive immunity, and those that happen to have been performed by judges, but are administrative, legislative, or executive in nature." Huminski v. Corsones ,
*4625. Plaintiff's Claims Against New York City Fail for Lack of an Underlying Constitutional Violation
Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate the existence of an underlying constitutional violation in the 9621 Complaint, thereby precluding a Monell claim against the City. See Bobolakis v. DiPietrantonio ,
6. The Court Declines Supplemental Jurisdiction over Plaintiff's State-Law Claims in the 9621 Complaint
Because the Court has dismissed Plaintiff's § 1983 constitutional claims, his only remaining claims allege negligent infliction of emotional distress, malpractice, unjust enrichment, fraud, and deceptive business practices under state law. The Court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over these claims.
A district court has discretion to "decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction" after "dismiss[ing] all claims over which it has original jurisdiction."
Here, all factors weigh in favor of declining supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiff's state-law claims. First , judicial economy favors dismissal given that, despite the lengthy procedural history of the case, the matter still has not progressed past the pleading stage. See Chenensky v. N.Y. Life Ins. Co. ,
Therefore, the Court dismisses Plaintiff's claims for negligent infliction of emotional distress, malpractice, unjust enrichment, fraud, and deceptive business practices without prejudice to their refiling in state court.
G. The Court Denies Plaintiff's Motions for Leave to Amend the 1800 and 9621 Complaints
Plaintiff requests leave in his Opposition to replead his claims. (1800 Pl. Opp. 30; 9621 Pl. Opp. 38). His request, however, overlooks the procedural history of his cases, particularly with regards to the 1800 action. As discussed above, the Court, on multiple occasions, ordered Plaintiff to file an amended 1800 complaint to correct the identified deficiencies. (1800 Dkt. # 15, 18). Plaintiff elected to stand on his original complaint. (1800 Dkt. # 19). Many of the identified deficiencies merited dismissal of Plaintiff's claims.
The Court is mindful of what the Second Circuit has identified as courts' "strong preference for resolving disputes on the merits." Loreley Fin. (Jersey) No. 3 Ltd. v. Wells Fargo Sec., LLC ,
In addition, the Court denies Plaintiff's request to issue additional orders pursuant to Valentin v. Dinkins ,
H. The Court Denies Plaintiff's Cross-Motions
As part of his opposition briefing, Plaintiff includes a multitude of "cross motions." (1800 Pl. Opp. 23-30; 9621 Pl. Opp. 31-38). Many are not appropriate for inclusion in *464his opposition papers. However, given Plaintiff's status, the Court considers each of them here and finds none to be meritorious.
1. Plaintiff's Cross-Motion for Default Judgment
In his first cross-motion, Plaintiff renews his April 18, 2018 request for the entry of default judgments against Defendants Wittner, Barry, and the City of New York. (9621 Pl. Opp. 31-33; see 9621 Dkt. # 81). On May 17, 2018, the Court denied his request. (9621 Dkt. # 82). Once again, Plaintiff advances the same argument: Defendants failed to answer the 9621 Complaint in a timely fashion. (9621 Pl. Opp. 31-33). In its prior Order, the Court declined to grant Plaintiff's request, explaining:
Each of the defendants against whom Plaintiff seeks an entry of default has, in fact, responded by submitting letters requesting pre-motion conferences or leave to file motions to dismiss. (See Dkt. # 54, 76 in No. 15 Civ. 9621, and Dkt. # 138 in No. 15 Civ. 1800). Rule 4.A of the Court's Individual Rules of Practice in Civil Cases establishes that the "submission of a pre-motion letter concerning a motion to dismiss will stay the defendant's time to answer or otherwise move with respect to the Complaint." Because each of the defendants has submitted pre-motion letters concerning anticipated motions to dismiss, their time to answer the Complaint has been stayed. Plaintiff's request for an entry of default is therefore denied.
(9621 Dkt. # 82). Plaintiff advances no new arguments or factual allegations. As such, the Court adheres to its initial decision and denies Plaintiff's request for entry of default judgment for the same reasons.
2. Plaintiff's Cross-Motion for Sanctions on MCU
Separately Plaintiff alleges MCU committed fraud upon the Court when it represented in its motion papers that its only disclosure to the DA Defendants was pursuant to one grand jury subpoena on January 12, 2012, "despite clear evidence of prior disclosures." (1800 Pl. Opp. 2-3, 23).25 Plaintiff urges the Court to impose sanctions on MCU pursuant to the Court's inherent powers. (Id. at 24). In particular, he seeks sanctions in the amount of $ 1,000 and asks the Court to strike MCU's pleadings. (Id. ).
Plaintiff's claim for sanctions ostensibly flows from MCU's motion papers. In support of its motion to dismiss, MCU submitted a declaration that stated that the company had replied to a Grand Jury Subpoena from ADA David Smith on January 12, 2019. (Birnbach Decl. ¶ 6 (1800 Dkt. # 215-12) ). Contrary to Plaintiff's current claims, MCU did not state that this was the one and only instance in which MCU had provided documents to law enforcement or other governmental entities related to Plaintiff's account information. (Birnbach Supp. Decl. ¶¶ 5-6 (1800 Dkt. # 273) ). Instead, MCU indicated that a search of its records for Plaintiff's account information yielded only the January 12, 2012 subpoena. (Birnbach Supp. ¶ 6).
However, as a result of the discovery produced in his criminal case, Plaintiff came into possession of a "Business Record Certification," executed on August 31, 2011, by an MCU employee. (1800 Pl. Opp. 23). The document indicated that MCU
*465had made at least one additional disclosure of information concerning Plaintiff. (Id. ). Plaintiff notified MCU, which conducted a search of several archived systems and records that were not directly related to Plaintiff. (Birnbach Supp. Decl. ¶¶ 9-11). During the course of the search, MCU located, as Plaintiff suspected, an additional grand jury subpoena requesting Plaintiff's records. (Id. ). This subpoena was not directly related to Plaintiff or the criminal investigation that led to his conviction, and therefore had not been discovered in MCU's initial search. (Id. ).
After notifying Plaintiff that its representatives had located the information he sought, MCU asked that, if Plaintiff was "in possession of any additional information regarding purportedly improper disclosure of records, please advise as soon as possible so we can resolve any potential issues." (1800 Pl. Opp. 23). Plaintiff has not identified any further issues, but instead contends that MCU's offer of assistance is "a game of 'discovery tag' to burden the Plaintiff with revealing further disclosures, before they admit to additional ones." (Id. at 24).
Having carefully considered the parties' submissions, the Court concludes that sanctions are not warranted. The Court finds no evidence that MCU misled the Court in its motion papers. To the contrary, the parties' submissions make plain that MCU acted in the normal course of business in conducting an initial search; this search did not uncover the 2011 subpoena because the subpoena was located in an archived system and was part of an unrelated case. Upon receipt of Plaintiff's request, MCU acted diligently to conduct a second search, and promptly provided Plaintiff with the resulting information.
On the record before it, the Court cannot find that any of the statements or "material omissions" attributed to MCU was false, much less that any statement was fraudulent or intended to cause unnecessary delays or increase the cost of litigation. The Second Circuit has explained that, under Rule 11, a factual statement "can give rise to the imposition of sanctions only when the particular allegation is utterly lacking in support." Kiobel v. Millson ,
3. Plaintiff's Cross-Motions for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings
In both the 1800 and 9621 actions, via his Opposition, Plaintiff moves for partial judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c). (1800 Pl. Opp. 26-29; 9621 Pl. Opp. 33-37). As a preliminary matter, Plaintiff cannot file such a motion until Defendants file answers. See 5C Charles A. Wright and Arthur R. Miller, FED. PRAC. & PROC. § 1367 (3d ed.) (noting that "the plaintiff cannot move under Rule 12(c) until after an answer has been filed"). In addition, Plaintiff's motions fail to comply with the Court's Individual Rules of Practice in Civil Cases, which require pre-motion submissions for any motion for judgment on the pleadings.
Finally, Plaintiff's motions for judgment on the pleadings are largely a rehash of *466arguments that he has raised, and that the Court has rejected, in opposing Defendants' motions to dismiss. The Court finds no reason to reconsider these arguments, or its findings, simply because Plaintiff has recast them as separate dispositive motions.
CONCLUSION
With regard to Case No. 15 Civ. 9621, Defendants' motions to dismiss are GRANTED, and Plaintiff's 9621 Complaint is dismissed in its entirety. The Clerk of Court is directed to terminate all pending motions, adjourn all remaining dates, and close that case.
With regard to Case No. 15 Civ. 1800, the motions to dismiss submitted by the following parties are GRANTED in their entirety: T-Mobile, Facebook, Google, TWC, MCU, Capital One, Chase, Con Edison, and the City of New York. The Clerk of Court is directed to terminate these parties.
The DA Defendant's motion is DENIED as to Plaintiff's claims for unlawful search and seizure, and GRANTED in all other respects. The NYPD Defendant's motion is DENIED as to Plaintiff's claims for malicious prosecution, and unlawful search and seizure, and GRANTED in all other respects.
The Clerk of Court is directed to terminate the motions at Docket Entries 166, 169, 171, 174, 179, 183, 185, 189, 211, 216, and 267 in Case No. 15 Civ. 1800.
The remaining parties are directed to submit a proposed Case Management Plan for the Court's consideration on or before May 1, 2019. The parties should be mindful that discovery in this case will only be permitted as it pertains to Plaintiffs' three remaining claims; discovery may not be taken as to any claim dismissed in this Opinion.
SO ORDERED.
Related
Cite This Page — Counsel Stack
365 F. Supp. 3d 407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/corley-v-vance-ilsd-2019.