Justice v. Kuhnapfel

985 F. Supp. 2d 334, 2013 WL 5972515, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158615
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedNovember 5, 2013
DocketNo. 13-CV-659 (MKB)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 985 F. Supp. 2d 334 (Justice v. Kuhnapfel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Justice v. Kuhnapfel, 985 F. Supp. 2d 334, 2013 WL 5972515, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158615 (E.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

MARGO K. BRODIE, District Judge.

On February 1, 2013, pro se Plaintiff Brenda Justice filed this action against Defendant Richard Kuhnapfel, also naming her seven-year old son H.J. as a plaintiff. By order dated February 22, 2013, Plaintiff was advised that she could not bring claims on behalf of H.J. and the claims as to H.J. were dismissed without prejudice. The Court also granted Plaintiff 30-days leave to file an amended complaint naming as defendants the individuals responsible for the alleged denial of her constitutional rights. On March 22, 2013, Plaintiff filed an amended complaint adding “NY Officer Greg Holme,”1 Judge M. Armstrong and Liz Beal as Defendants, alleging numerous claims including malicious prosecution, false arrest, wrongful imprisonment, kidnapping, attempted murder, conspiracy to kidnap, endangering the life of a child, intentional infliction of emotional distress to H.J., and violation of H.J.’s Fourth, Fourteenth and Thirteenth Amendment rights. By Memorandum and Order dated April 22, 2013, the Court dismissed Plaintiffs claims against Judge Armstrong and Liz Beal without prejudice and gave Plaintiff leave to proceed solely as to the false arrest claim against Kuhnapfel and Holme. On July 2 and July 8, 2013, Plaintiff filed two motions seeking a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order for “the immediate return” of H.J., (Docket Entry No. 24, PI. First Mot. Prelim. Inj. 1), and to “stop the illegal adoption” of H.J., (Docket Entry No. 26, PI. Second Mot. Prelim. Inj. 1). These motions were referred to Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy. On September 19, 2013, Judge Levy issued a Report and Recommendation, (Docket Entry No. 43, “R & R”), recommending that the Court deny Plaintiffs motions for a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order. On September 30, 2013, Plaintiff filed a letter with the Court, in which she restated the basis for her complaint against Defendants and attached documents purporting to establish the falsity of her arrest. (Docket Entry No. 44, PI. Obj.) The Court construes this letter as an objection to Judge Levy’s R & R. For the reasons set forth below, the Court adopts Judge Levy’s R & R in its entirety. Plaintiffs motions for a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order are denied.

I. Discussion

a. Standard of Review

A district court reviewing a magistrate judge’s recommended ruling “may accept, [336]*336reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the magistrate judge.” 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C). When a party submits a timely objection to a report and recommendation, the district court reviews the parts of the report and recommendation to which the party objected under a de novo standard of review. Id.; see also Larocco v. Jackson, No. 10-CV-1651, 2010 WL 5068006, at *2 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 6, 2010). The district court may adopt those portions of the recommended ruling to which no timely objections have been made, provided no clear error is apparent from the face of the record. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C); see also Larocco, 2010 WL 5068006, at *2.

b.Magistrate Judge Levy’s Report & Recommendation

Judge Levy found that Plaintiff did not have standing to seek injunctive relief against Holme and Kuhnapfel because neither Holme nor Kuhnapfel had the power to restore physical and legal custody of H.J. to Plaintiff, and thus the Court could not redress Plaintiff’s injury, the third requirement of standing. (R & R 4-5.) In addition, Judge Levy found that Plaintiff could not establish a likelihood of success on the merits of the underlying claim of false arrest against Defendants, because Plaintiff was arrested pursuant to a facially valid arrest warrant, creating probable cause for the arrest, which is a “complete defense” to any claim of false arrest. (Id. at 5-6.) Judge Levy therefore recommended that Plaintiffs request for injunctive relief be denied. (Id. at 6.)

c.Plaintiffs Objections to the Report and Recommendation

On September 30, 2013, within the fourteen day time period to file objections to Judge Levy’s R & R, Plaintiff filed a letter with the Court asserting that H.J. was removed from her without a warrant during her false arrest by Defendants. (Docket Entry No. 44, PI. Obj. 1.) Plaintiff seeks the return of H.J. (Id.) Plaintiff also attached a “criminal complaint by the city, state, and county of N.Y. that was not signed by a Judge and rejected by the criminal court,” and a copy of the dismissal of charges against Plaintiff in the Criminal Court of the City of New York, dated November 14, 2012. (PI. Obj. at 4-5, Unmarked Exhibits.) The Court treats this letter as a generalized objection to Judge Levy’s finding that Plaintiff does not have standing to seek injunctive relief, and as a specific response to Judge Levy’s finding that Plaintiff could not establish a likelihood of success on the merits of her false arrest claim. The Court will review Judge Levy’s entire R & R under a de novo standard of review.

d.Plaintiffs Request for Injunctive Relief

The Court has reviewed the record and the applicable law and agrees with Judge Levy that Plaintiff is not entitled to injunctive relief because, among other reasons, Plaintiff lacks standing and cannot establish a likelihood of success on the merits.

i. Plaintiff lacks standing to seek injunctive relief.

In order to seek injunctive relief, a plaintiff must show that she has “standing” to obtain that relief. In order to establish standing, a plaintiff must establish three things: (1) that she has suffered from an “injury in fact,” (2) which was caused by the defendants’ actions, and (3) which the court can likely “redress” or make right through a favorable decision. See Cacchillo v. Insmed, Inc., 638 F.3d 401, 404 (2d Cir.2011) (“[I]n order to seek injunctive relief, a plaintiff must show the three familiar elements of standing: injury in fact, causation, and redressability.” (citing Summers v. Earth Island Inst., 555 U.S. 488, [337]*337129 S.Ct. 1142, 173 L.Ed.2d 1 (2009))); see also Hedges v. Obama, 724 F.3d 170, 188 (2d Cir.2013) (To establish standing, a plaintiff must show: “(1) the plaintiff [has] suffered an injury in fact — an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical, (2) the injury [is] fairly traceable to the challenged action of the defendant, and (3) it [is] likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision.” (internal quotation marks omitted) (citing, inter alia, Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992))).

Here, Plaintiff lacks standing to seek injunctive relief.

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Bluebook (online)
985 F. Supp. 2d 334, 2013 WL 5972515, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158615, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/justice-v-kuhnapfel-nyed-2013.