Lynch v. City of N.Y.

335 F. Supp. 3d 645
District Court, S.D. Illinois·Decided September 28, 2018·No. 17cv7577·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

WILLIAM H. PAULEY III, Senior United States District Judge:

James Lynch, Lloyd Jones, and Baron Spencer bring this putative federal civil rights and common law false imprisonment class action against the City of New York. The City moves to dismiss Plaintiffs' constitutional claims for failure to state a claim and urges this Court to decline supplemental jurisdiction over the false imprisonment claims. For the reasons that follow, the City's motion to dismiss is denied.

BACKGROUND

This case concerns the constitutionality of pre-trial detention of people who have obtained judicial orders entitling them to release upon paying bail. In New York, "cash bail in the amount designated in the order fixing bail may be posted" at any time after an individual has been committed to custody. N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 520.15(1). And "[u]pon proof of the deposit of the designated amount," the detainee "must be forthwith released from custody." N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 520.15(1). The following is drawn from the allegations in the Complaint, which are presumed true for purposes of this motion.

In broad strokes, the Complaint alleges that the City's byzantine and dysfunctional procedures for bail payment and release result in unreasonably lengthy delays in permitting bail to be posted and subsequently releasing detainees for whom bail has been paid. Although bail may be paid at the courthouse after the arraignment judge fixes the amount, Plaintiffs assert that the City routinely transports defendants to Department of Correction ("DOC") facilities as a matter of administrative convenience before friends and *649family have the opportunity to post bail. (Compl., ECF No. 1, ¶¶ 24-26.) Once a defendant arrives at a DOC facility, a 12- to 22-hour intake process begins, during which the defendant is categorically ineligible to be released on bail. (Compl. ¶¶ 28-29.) In relevant part, this delay is further exacerbated by various inefficiencies in accepting bail, such as insufficient staff and DOC's antiquated paper-based records system. (Compl. ¶¶ 31-39.) Plaintiffs claim that the sacrifice of liberty in the name of administrative convenience continues even after bail has been accepted. For instance, because a DOC captain must sign off on each bail release, DOC waits until a critical mass of bailed-out detainees has gathered so their releases may be approved and processed en masse. (Compl. ¶¶ 43-45.)

Moreover, Plaintiffs allege that the City knew or should have known that its bail payment and release process could cause needless delay and the concomitant detention of individuals long after the legal basis for detention has dissipated. In particular, Plaintiffs point to a 2015 report authored by the Center for Court Innovation, a non-profit organization, identifying many of these deficiencies (the "CCI Report"). (See, e.g., Compl. ¶¶ 26, 30, 35, 39.) The CCI Report also made various recommendations to ensure that bail holds were honored, to allow bail to be posted during the intake process, to allocate sufficient staff, to remove reliance on paper-based systems, and to track the time between acceptance of bail and release. (Compl. ¶¶ 51-56.) These recommendations, according to Plaintiffs, fell on deaf ears.

The pre-trial detentions of the three putative class representatives are emblematic of these delays--James Lynch endured a 23-hour detention between posting bail and his release, Baron Spencer was forced to wait 18 hours after his bail was paid, and Lloyd Jones was released over 9 hours after his friends and family's 22-hour odyssey to post his bail.

I. James Lynch

Lynch was detained at the Anna M. Kross Center ("AMKC") on Rikers Island. (Compl. ¶ 68.) On March 29, 2017, the Bronx Freedom Fund paid his $500 bail, which the City received at 3:56 p.m. (Compl. ¶¶ 68-69.) Sometime between 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., DOC personnel informed Lynch that his bail had been paid and directed him to gather his belongings in preparation for release. (Compl. ¶ 71.) Lynch waited for hours to be released, but nobody arrived to escort him out. (Compl. ¶¶ 72-73.) Instead, DOC personnel advised him to be patient when he inquired as to his release. (Compl. ¶ 73.) Around the designated "lights out" time at 11:00 p.m., Lynch realized that he would need to spend the night at AMKC and scrambled to secure his bedding, which he had given away in anticipation of his release. (Compl. ¶¶ 72, 74.)

Around 4:00 a.m. on March 30, 2017--roughly twelve hours after the City received Lynch's bail payment--DOC personnel began to transport other inmates in the housing area who had court appearances that day. (Compl. ¶ 75.) Although Lynch also had a court appearance that day, nobody came to process his release despite his pleas to DOC personnel. (Compl. ¶¶ 76-78.) Lynch was only escorted out of his housing area at approximately 9:00 a.m. and taken to an intake area, where he remained for another few hours. His detention at AMKC finally ended at 2:40 p.m., roughly 23 hours after the City received his bail payment. (Compl. ¶ 81.) And not only did the City delay Lynch's release after his bail was posted, but they detained him for so long that he missed his scheduled court appearance and a bench warrant was ordered. (Compl. ¶ 84.) Lynch's *650bail receipt indicated that he had no outstanding warrants or detainers that would have precluded his immediate release. (Compl. ¶ 70.)

II. Baron Spencer

Spencer was also a pre-trial detainee at AMKC. (Compl. ¶ 107.) And as with Lynch, the Bronx Freedom Fund paid his $1,000 bail on December 19, 2015, which the City received at 1:38 p.m. (Compl. ¶¶ 106, 108.) Lynch was only informed that his bail had been paid and directed to pack up his belongings close to midnight, over ten hours after the City received the payment. (Compl. ¶¶ 110-111.) But he too was not immediately released. Instead, DOC personnel escorted him to an intake area with several other detainees to spend the night, even as DOC officers slept, ate, or socialized in the intake area. (Compl. ¶¶ 111-112.) Spencer was released the next morning, approximately 18 hours after his bail was paid. (Compl. ¶ 113.) Like Lynch, Spencer's bail receipt indicated no outstanding warrants or detainers that would have prohibited his immediate discharge. (Compl. ¶ 109.)

III. Lloyd Jones

As with Lynch and Spencer, the Complaint avers that Jones suffered an unreasonable period of detention after his bail had been paid. But Jones' ordeal also illustrates how the City's bail processing practices needlessly delay the payment of bail after it has been set. In his case, the DOC's delay in accepting bail resulted from internally contradictory obligations created by DOC's procedures and directives.

Jones was arraigned on January 7, 2017 at approximately noon, at which point the judge set bail at $2,000. (Compl.

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Lynch v. City of N.Y., 335 F. Supp. 3d 645 (S.D. Ill. 2018).

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