Imhof v. New York CIty Housing Authority

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ---------------------------------------------------------------------- X : JOHN IMHOF, : : Plaintiff, : : 23 Civ. 1880 (JPC) -v- : : ORDER NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY et al., : : Defendants. : : ---------------------------------------------------------------------- X

JOHN P. CRONAN, United States District Judge: The Court is in receipt of the parties’ supplemental briefs, Dkts. 126-27. The parties should be prepared to thoroughly discuss the following issues at the oral argument scheduled for June 9, 2025: 1. Whether the Supreme Court’s analysis in United States v. Burke, 504 U.S. 229 (1992) is relevant to the meaning of “personal injury” as used in the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”) in light of the Second Circuit’s holding that the FTCA applies only “if there was a ‘personal injury’ as defined by state law.” Birnbaum v. United States, 588 F.2d 319, 322 (2d Cir. 1978) (emphasis added); see also Devlin v. United States, 352 F.3d 525, 534 (2d Cir. 2003) (stating that the court was “inclined to agree with the state-incorporation approach” and that courts in this Circuit “may well be bound by Birnbaum”). 2. Whether New York law would consider Plaintiff’s claims under the New York City Human Rights Law to be claims for “personal injury.” See N.Y. Gen. Constr. Law § 37-a (defining “personal injury” to include “libel, slander and malicious prosecution; also an assault, battery, false imprisonment, or other actionable injury to the person either of the plaintiff, or of another”); Margerum v. City of Buffalo, 28 N.E.3d 515, 519 (N.Y. 2015) (holding that, for purposes of General Municipal Law Sections 50-e and 50-1, “[h]uman rights claims are not tort actions . . . and are not personal injury, wrongful death, or damage to personal property claims”). SO ORDERED. Dated: June 6, 2025 Vhfa New York, New York JOHN P. CRONAN United States District Judge