Godinez v. Siena College

288 A.D.2d 659, 733 N.Y.S.2d 262, 2001 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10862
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedNovember 15, 2001
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 288 A.D.2d 659 (Godinez v. Siena College) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Godinez v. Siena College, 288 A.D.2d 659, 733 N.Y.S.2d 262, 2001 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10862 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

Lahtinen, J.

Appeals (1) from an order of the Supreme Court (Keegan, J.), entered December 28, 1999 in Albany County, which, inter alia, granted defendant Siena College’s motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint against it, and (2) from a judgment of said court (McNamara, J.), entered March 8, 2000 in Albany County, upon a dismissal of the complaint against defendant Shirley Staley at the close of plaintiff’s case.

Plaintiff was a student at defendant Siena College intermittently commencing in the fall of 1983 until his graduation from Siena in May 1992. Beginning in 1990, plaintiff was also receiving psychiatric treatment at the Albany County Mental Health [660]*660Clinic (hereinafter ACMHC) and the Capital District Psychiatric Center (hereinafter CDPC). During the evening prior to plaintiffs graduation, the Mobile Crisis Team (hereinafter MCT) of the ACMHC was informed by defendant Shirley Staley, a nurse employed at CDPC, that plaintiff “may act out, possibly violently” at the graduation ceremony. Staley based her report on statements allegedly made by plaintiffs mother to Staley, during a telephone conversation and during support group meetings for parents of CDPC patients (hereinafter McFarlane groups). The MCT social worker immediately relayed this information to the Town of Colonie Police Department in Albany County, which in turn informed Siena security. Just prior to the graduation ceremony procession, plaintiff was questioned by Siena officials but permitted to participate in the uneventful graduation ceremony. Shortly thereafter, in June 1992, plaintiff was declared “persona non grata” by Siena and no longer permitted on the college campus. Plaintiff claims that he did not receive written notification of his “persona non grata” status from Siena officials, but admitted that he was orally informed of it by Siena security personnel in late June 1992.

In November 1994, plaintiff commenced this action against Siena and Staley, alleging that Staley negligently revealed inaccurate and misleading confidential information in breach of his confidential relationship with CDPC and, as a result, Siena negligently barred plaintiff from the Siena campus. After discovery, Siena successfully moved for summary judgment, securing dismissal of the complaint against it. Supreme Court (Keegan, J.) also denied plaintiffs cross motion which sought to add causes of action asserting that Siena violated Education Law § 6450, discriminated against plaintiff in violation of Executive Law § 296 and violated his civil rights. Thereafter, plaintiffs case proceeded to trial against Staley who, at the conclusion of plaintiffs proof, successfully moved for dismissal of the complaint. Plaintiff appeals from the order granting Siena summary judgment and the judgment dismissing the complaint against Staley.

Turning first to Supreme Court’s dismissal of plaintiffs complaint against Siena, we reject plaintiffs argument that Siena violated its duty of reasonable care to plaintiff by failing to engage in any inquiry regarding Staley’s statements and by not affording him proper notice and due process prior to declaring him “persona non grata.” Pursuant to Education Law § 6450, Siena promulgated Guidelines for Conduct applicable to both members of the college community and other persons [661]*661which were set out in its Siena Life Handbook. Those guidelines gave Siena the right to declare a nonmember of the college community “persona non grata” if his or her “presence is considered detrimental to the welfare of the college community.” Based upon his past disruptive conduct established by affidavits and exhibits submitted by Siena in support of its motion for summary judgment, we find Siena’s actions in declaring plaintiff “persona non grata” was not an abuse of its “general power to exclude from the campus persons who do not abide by [the college’s] rules of conduct” (People v Leonard, 62 NY2d 404, 409).

We also reject plaintiffs claim that he was not afforded proper notice or due process. Siena is bound to follow its own rules (see, Matter of Beilis v Albany Med. Coll, of Union Univ., 136 AD2d 42, 43-44), however, plaintiff was not entitled to the procedural due process provided for in the Siena Life Handbook. Plaintiff was declared “persona non grata” subsequent to his graduation from Siena. As an alumnus, he was not considered a member of the Siena community who would be entitled to the procedural due process safeguards set forth in the Guidelines for Conduct for members of that community

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Bluebook (online)
288 A.D.2d 659, 733 N.Y.S.2d 262, 2001 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10862, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/godinez-v-siena-college-nyappdiv-2001.