Pelayo v. Port Authority

893 F. Supp. 2d 632, 2012 WL 4460798, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141299
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 27, 2012
DocketNo. 09 Civ. 8879 (JGK)
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 893 F. Supp. 2d 632 (Pelayo v. Port Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pelayo v. Port Authority, 893 F. Supp. 2d 632, 2012 WL 4460798, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141299 (S.D.N.Y. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JOHN G. KOELTL, District Judge:

Defendants, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (“PA”), PA Sergeant Gravano, and PA Officer Robert Sznurkowski (collectively, the “PA defendants”), have moved for summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 seeking to dismiss the claims alleged against them by plaintiffs Daniel Pelayo and Kristina Kauts. The events giving rise to this lawsuit took place in the early morning hours of June 3, 2009 when Kauts and Pelayo were detained at the John F. Kennedy Airport (“JFK”). (Pis.’ Resp. to Defs.’ R. 56.1 Stmt. (“Pis.’ Resp.”), ¶¶ 4, 22, 25.) The plaintiffs allege claims for false arrest, excessive force, and battery in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and New York law. The claims against the PA are based on a theory of vicarious liability.

This Court previously dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims against Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) officers Bridge-forth and Van Ihsem in their official capacity, as well as Pelayo’s false arrest claims against the CBP officers and the PA defendants. This Court has also dismissed Pelayo’s excessive force claim against PA Officer Sznurkowski. Kauts has since settled her false arrest claim against the CBP officers in their individual capacities. Consequently, only Kauts’s claim against the PA defendants for false arrest, Pelayo’s excessive force claim against Sergeant Gravano, and Pelayo’s battery claim against Sergeant Gravano and the PA remain.

I.

The PA defendants have moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the PA officers’ conduct did not violate the United States Constitution or New York law. The standard for granting summary judgment is well established. “The court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). “[T]he trial court’s task at the summary judgment motion stage of the litigation is carefully limited to discerning whether there are any [635]*635genuine issues of material fact to be tried, not to deciding them. Its duty, in short, is confined at this point to issue-finding; it does not extend to issue-resolution.” Gallo v. Prudential Residential Servs. Ltd. P’ship, 22 F.3d 1219, 1224 (2d Cir.1994). The moving party bears the initial burden of “informing the district court of the basis for its motion” and identifying the matter that “it believes demonstrate^] the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.” Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The substantive law governing the case will identify the material facts and “[o]nly disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law will properly preclude the entry of summary judgment.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); see also Chepilko v. Cigna Group Ins., No. 08 Civ. 4033, 2012 WL 2421536, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. June 27, 2012).

In determining whether summary judgment is appropriate, the Court must resolve all ambiguities and draw all reasonable inferences against the moving party. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (citing United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962)); see also Gallo, 22 F.3d at 1223. Summary judgment is improper if there is any evidence in the record from any source from which a reasonable inference could be drawn in favor of the non-moving party. See Chambers v. TRM Copy Ctrs. Corp., 43 F.3d 29, 37 (2d Cir.1994).

If the moving party meets its burden, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to bring forward “specific facts showing a genuine issue for trial.” Ovesen v. Mitsubishi Heavy Indus, of Am., Inc., No. 04 Civ. 2849, 2012 WL 677953, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 1, 2012) (citation omitted). The non-moving party must produce evidence in the record and “may not rely simply on eonclusory statements or on contentions that the affidavits supporting the motion are not credible.” Ying Jing Gan v. City of N.Y., 996 F.2d 522, 532 (2d Cir.1993); see also Scotto v. Almenas, 143 F.3d 105, 114-15 (2d Cir.1998) (collecting cases); Ovesen, 2012 WL 677953, at *1.

II.

The following facts are undisputed unless otherwise noted. The plaintiffs, an engaged couple, were returning from a trip to the Dominican Republic on June 3, 2009. (Pis.’ Resp. ¶¶ 17, 22.) At 12:54am, when they presented their passports to CBP at JFK, an Inter City Correspondence alert (“ICC”) notified the CBP officers of an Outstanding Order of Protection (“OOP”) in favor of Kauts against Pelayo. (Pis.’ Resp. ¶¶ 22-25.) The CBP officers referred Pelayo to a secondary area to verify whether the ICC alert indeed referred to Pelayo. (Pis.’ Resp. ¶ 25.) Kauts testified that she went to the secondary area with Pelayo “thinking that it was nothing.... Because I’m from Florida and I’m a young woman in JFK Airport, so I went with my fiancé to where he goes.” (Kauts Dep. Tr. at 21-22.)

Pelayo and Kauts waited in the secondary area unaccompanied by CBP or PA officers; eventually a CBP officer called Pelayo to a desk and Pelayo handed the officer his documentation. (Kauts Dep. Tr. at 22-23.) Kauts represents that one CBP officer told her “to wait right here.” (Kauts Dep. Tr. at 27.) After Pelayo surrendered his passport, the CBP officers allegedly asked Kauts for her passport, asked her to take a seat, and asked the plaintiffs to separate. (Kauts Dep. Tr. at 38.)

The CBP officers informed Kauts and Pelayo that they were separated because of the OOP, to which Kauts replied, [636]*636“[t]here is no order of protection,” and she “pleaded and begged with [the CBP officer] at the front” to let her make a phone call or retrieve the OOP dismissal paperwork. (Kauts Dep. Tr. at 41-42; see Pis.’ Resp. ¶ 44.) But the CBP officer allegedly-refused, saying, “I can’t let you go. You have to wait here until we figure out what we have to do.” (Kauts Dep. Tr. at 42.) Kauts maintains that she asked “[w]hy am I being held?” and “[b]asically, the whole time, [she] just pleaded if [she] could leave.” (Kauts Dep. Tr. at 47.) A person she identified as “the main [CBP] officer” reportedly responded, “Absolutely not. You cannot go anywhere because you committed a crime.” (Kauts Dep. Tr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
893 F. Supp. 2d 632, 2012 WL 4460798, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141299, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pelayo-v-port-authority-nysd-2012.