Ferran v. City of Albany

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. New York
DecidedDecember 5, 2019
Docket1:14-cv-01362
StatusUnknown

This text of Ferran v. City of Albany (Ferran v. City of Albany) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ferran v. City of Albany, (N.D.N.Y. 2019).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ________________________________ MARK R. FERRAN et al., 1:14-cv-1362 Plaintiffs, (GLS/ATB) v. CITY OF ALBANY et al., Defendants. ________________________________ APPEARANCES: OF COUNSEL: FOR THE PLAINTIFFS: Mark R. Ferran Pro Se 36 Winnie Street Albany, NY 12208 Nadia Ferran Pro Se 3 Crieff Lane New City, NY 10956 FOR THE DEFENDANTS: City of Albany, Hon. Gerald D. Jennings, Joseph J. Toomey, Loren LaJoy, Vincent Dibiase, Valerie Y. Scott, John J. Reilly, and Bradford Burns STEPHEN J. REHFUSS, The Rehfuss Law Firm, P.C. ESQ. 40 British American Blvd. ABIGAIL W. REHFUSS, Latham, NY 12110 ESQ. Joseph M. Lanaro, Felicia Russell, and Chazen Companies Tromello & Fishman CHRISTINE D. HANLON, 1187 Troy-Schenectady Road ESQ. Latham, NY 12210 Gary L. Sharpe Senior District Judge MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER I. Introduction

Plaintiffs, mother and son, Nadia Ferran (hereinafter, “N. Ferran”) and Mark Ferran (hereinafter “M. Ferran”) commenced this action pro se against forty-eight defendants alleging over forty constitutional and state

law claims in connection with the demolition of a property at 54 Clinton Avenue in Albany, New York. (See generally Am. Compl., Dkt. No. 12.) Certain claims have since been dismissed, and certain defendants have since been terminated, (Dkt. No. 73), leaving City of Albany, Hon. Gerald

D. Jennings, Joseph J. Toomey, Loren LaJoy, Vincent Dibiase, Valerie Y. Scott, John J. Reilly, and Bradford D. Burns (collectively, “City defendants”),1 and The Chazen Companies, Joseph Lanaro, and Felicia

1 Former defendant Robert C. Forezzi, Sr., who was part of the collective City defendants was dismissed from the case, due to a notice of death filed by his counsel, and a failure by plaintiffs to timely substitute Forezzi with his successor or representative. (Dkt. Nos. 112, 113, 118.) 2 Russell (collectively “Chazen defendants”) as the only defendants.2 Pending are unopposed motions for summary judgment by the

remaining defendants. (Dkt. Nos. 139, 140).3 For the reasons that follow, the motions are granted. II. Background

A. Facts4 N. Ferran was the owner of the subject property. (City Defs.’ Statement of Material Facts (SMF) ¶ 1, Dkt. No. 140, Attach. 2; Dkt.

No. 140, Attach. 7 at 6:19-7:3.) The subject property was a rowhouse that directly abutted a similar rowhouse on one side and shared a common wall with a different rowhouse on the other side. (City Defs.’ SMF ¶ 3; Dkt. No. 140, Attachs. 5, 6 at 17:22-18:13.) At the time of the incidents giving rise

2 John Does 6-8 (personnel of the City of Albany Department of Fire and Emergency Services and the Division of Building and Codes), and John Does 11-20 (individuals part of City defendants) have yet to be identified by plaintiffs and are hereby dismissed from this action. See Sachs v. Cantwell, No. 10 Civ. 1663, 2012 WL 3822220, at *10 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 4, 2012) (“The Court dismisses John Doe [Defendants] from the case without prejudice for failure to prosecute, as Plaintiff did not identify the John Doe Defendants by the end of discovery.”). 3 Notably, throughout this Order, N. Ferran and M. Ferran are referred to collectively as “plaintiffs,” but in accordance with the court’s order on the defendants’ motions to dismiss, (Dkt. No. 73), other than the conversion claim, M. Ferran currently only has claims arising from his personal property, and not the subject property, (Id. at 18-19). Only N. Ferran has claims remaining that arise from the subject property. (Id.) 4 Pursuant to N.D.N.Y. L.R. 7.1(a)(3), the court deems admitted defendants’ statements of material facts, which are properly supported and unopposed. 3 to this litigation, the building had been vacant since the 1980s, it did not have any active utilities since the 1990s, and the building had been cited

for a number of code violations. (City Defs.’ SMF ¶¶ 5-7; Dkt. No. 140, Attachs. 4, 6 at 14:5-17:4.) On the morning of November 9, 2011, the subject property caught

fire. (City Defs.’ SMF ¶ 2; Dkt. No. 140, Attachs. 4, 5; Chazen Defs.’ SMF ¶ 1, Dkt. No. 139, Attach. 9.) After the fire was extinguished, the property was inspected by City of Albany Fire Department’s Deputy Fire Chief

Joseph Toomey and the Chazen Companies’ Joseph Lanaro, an independent civil engineer hired by the City. (City Defs.’ SMF ¶¶ 9-14; Dkt. No. 140, Attach. 4.) Toomey observed that the subject property suffered severe damage, that the roof was deformed, and that the property was in

imminent danger of collapsing. (City Defs.’ SMF ¶ 12; Dkt. No. 140, Attach. 4.) Lanaro opined that the damage to the subject property left it too unsafe for an attempt at restoring or salvaging it, and recommended

that the property be immediately demolished. (City Defs.’ SMF ¶ 15; Dkt. No. 140, Attach. 5.) Chazen provided a written report and photographs to the City to support this recommendation. (Chazen Defs.’ SMF ¶ 5; Dkt. No. 139, Attachs. 2-4.)

4 Based on Lanaro’s opinion, and Toomey’s own observations, Toomey filed an emergency order to demolish the subject property

pursuant to the Code of the City of Albany, which was issued on November 9, 2011. (City Defs.’ SMF ¶ 16; Dkt. No. 140, Attachs. 4, 5.) Toomey issued a notice to N. Ferran advising her that the property was in imminent

danger of collapse and needed to be demolished. (City Defs.’ SMF ¶ 17; Dkt. No. 140, Attach. 4.) Shortly thereafter, the City hired M. Cristo Inc. to perform the demolition. (City Defs.’ SMF ¶ 22; Dkt. No. 140, Attach. 4.) The subject property was demolished from November 9, 2011 to November

11, 2011. (City Defs.’ SMF ¶ 18; Dkt. No. 140, Attach. 4.) Although N. Ferran owned the subject property, both N. Ferran and M. Ferran had personal property inside of it. (Chazen Defs.’ SMF ¶ 2.) Following the

demolition, plaintiffs commenced a proceeding pursuant to Article 78 of New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rules in New York State court challenging the demolition of the subject property on numerous

constitutional and state law grounds. (Am. Compl. ¶ 381; Dkt. No. 21, Attach. 3 at 2-41.) B. Procedural History Plaintiffs filed their complaint, (Compl., Dkt. No. 1), on November 10,

5 2014, and the operative, amended complaint, (Am. Compl.), on May 6, 2015. Motions to dismiss were filed by City defendants, (Dkt. No. 21),

Chazen defendants, (Dkt. No. 26), former defendant Historic Albany Foundation, Inc. (“HAF”), (Dkt. No. 33), Michael P. Cristo Jr., Michael P. Cristo, and M. Cristo Inc. (collectively “Cristo former defendants”), (Dkt. No.

54), and Eugene Devine, Elizabeth A. Garry, John A. Lahtinen, Richard M. Platkin, Robert S. Rose, and Leslie E. Stein (collectively “state former defendants”), (Dkt. No. 62). The court granted in part and denied in part these motions to

dismiss. (See generally Dkt. No. 73.) First, because M. Ferran did not have a possessory interest in the subject property, the court found that he only has standing as to claims arising from the destruction of his own

personal property and does not have standing as to claims arising from the demolition of the subject property. (Id. at 18-19.)5 Next, the court terminated HAF, Cristo former defendants (including John Does 22 through

25) , state former defendants, and former defendant Vacant Building Initiative Project Team (including John Does 1 through 4). (Id. at 28.)

5 The court clarified upon reconsideration that N. Ferran validly assigned her claim for conversion of her personal property to M. Ferran. (Dkt. No. 101 at 3-4.) 6 Finally, the court narrowed the claims against Chazen defendants to a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 conspiracy claim, and against City defendants to (1) a

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