Rana v. Islam

305 F.R.D. 53, 23 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 1797, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 964, 2015 WL 81977
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 6, 2015
DocketNo. 14-Cv-1993 (SHS)
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 305 F.R.D. 53 (Rana v. Islam) 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
Rana v. Islam, 305 F.R.D. 53, 23 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 1797, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 964, 2015 WL 81977 (S.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

SIDNEY H. STEIN, District Judge.

Mashud Parves Rana brings this action against his former employers, Monirul Islam and Fahima Tahsina Prova, alleging violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1589 et seq., the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., and the New York State Labor Law, N.Y. Labor Law § 190 et seq. Rana also asserts New York state law claims for breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, quantum meruit, conversion, trespass to chattels, false imprisonment, and assault and battery.

Defendants have moved pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) to dismiss Rana’s fraudulent misrepresentation claim for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. They also move to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1), contending that both defendants are immune from this action by virtue of consular immunity. Finally, defendants also move to dismiss the complaint for insufficient service of process. See Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(5).

The Court finds (1) that Rana has pled his fraudulent misrepresentation claim with sufficient specificity; (2) that defendants are not immune from this suit because their employment and supervision of Rana were not consular functions; and (3) that even if defendants’ attempts at service were insufficient, the Court need not dismiss the suit because [56]*56proper service may still be obtained. Accordingly, defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint is denied.

Finally, the Court orders service pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(f)(3) upon the attorneys who represent defendants in this litigation.

I. Background

For purposes of this motion, the Court assumes as true all facts alleged in the complaint.

Rana is a citizen of Bangladesh. (Compl. ¶ 8.) He was admitted to the United States pursuant to an A-3 Visa (id. ¶ 9) and served as a domestic worker in defendants’ household in New York City for almost nineteen months (id. ¶¶ 1,10, 43).1

Defendant Islam served as Consul General of the Consulate General of Bangladesh in New York City from September 5, 2012 to March 23, 2014. (Aff. of Monirul Islam dated May 14, 2014 (“Islam Aff.”) ¶ 5.) Since March 24, 2014, he and his wife, defendant Prova, have resided in Morocco (id. ¶¶ 3-4), where defendant Islam began serving as Ambassador of Bangladesh to Morocco on March 31,2014 (id. ¶ 2).

Rana alleges that, in the summer of 2012, defendants “knowingly and willfully lured [him] from Bangladesh” to the United States with various promises, including that (1) defendants “would pay him $3,000 per month,” (2) Rana “would have some free time to himself every day” and “some days off,” and (3) defendants “would renew his visa before it expired.” (Compl. ¶¶ 2, 28, 34-35.) Rana accepted these terms (id. ¶ 35), and “[o]n or about September 11, 2012, [he] flew to the United States with defendant Prova and her son” (id. ¶ 38).

Rana alleges that upon his arrival in the United States, defendants “obtained [his] forced labor and involuntary services” through “physical threats, coercion, isolation, physical restraint, physical force, [and] threats to [his] life.” (Id. ¶ 39.) He alleges that “[defendants maintained possession of [his] passport and immigration-related documents” throughout the period of his employment. (Id. ¶ 47.) According to Rana, Islam warned Rana “that if he left the apartment, the police would find him and kill him because Mr. Rana did not have a passport.” (Id. ¶48.) Rana alleges that “[defendants informed [him] that his visa had expired” in or about June 2013, and “Islam used this information as an opportunity to repeat” his warnings about “what would happen if Mr. Rana escaped.” (Id. ¶ 61.) Islam also allegedly threatened to “beat him” and “kill [] Rana himself’ if Rana left the apartment (id. ¶¶ 45, 48) and on two occasions was “physically violent” toward Rana (id. ¶¶ 63-64). Rana further alleges that he was “not allowed to talk to anyone outside the house” or to “make phone calls.” (Id. ¶¶ 57, 59.)

According to Rana, defendants “never paid [him] a single dollar of the promised wages of $3,000 per month.” (Id. ¶53.) When Rana asked defendants why they failed to pay him, Islam allegedly struck Rana “on [the] back of the head” and told him, “‘I brought you to America, that is enough.’” (Id. ¶ 63.) Rana alleges that defendants forced him to work from sixteen to twenty hours a day (see id. ¶¶ 40-41) and that he “never had a day off’ during the almost nineteen months he worked for Islam and Prova (id. ¶ 52). His duties included “eook[ing] all meals from scratch, iron[ing] clothes, washing] clothes by hand, watch[ing] Defendants’ eleven-year-old son, and cleaning] the entire apartment daily.” (Id. ¶40.) Additionally, when defendants hosted parties in their home, Rana had to “cook for all the guests, serve, and clean up after the guests left.” (Id. ¶41.) Defendants also demanded that Rana “cook food for events at the Bangladesh Consulate and required that he work as a busboy and server at monthly community events at the Bangladesh Consulate.” (Id. ¶ 42.)

According to Rana, in February 2014, Islam told him he must move to Morocco with the family and continue to work there in [57]*57defendants’ new household. (Id. ¶ 64.) Rana alleges that he “overheard Defendant Islam say to Defendant Prova that they could not leave [Rana] in the United States ... [or] send him back to Bangladesh because Mr. Rana could report Defendant Islam to the authorities, which could create a problem for [defendant Islam’s] job and harm his reputation.” (Id. ¶ 65.) Islam then allegedly told Rana “that he must come with [the family] to Morocco, or Defendant Islam would kill him.” (Id. ¶ 66.) On or about March 2, 2014, after Islam allegedly refused to allow Rana to contact a relative’s acquaintance in New York (id. ¶¶ 67-69), Rana fled defendants’ apartment “with the clothes on his back and a few personal effects” (id. ¶ 70).

Rana commenced this litigation on March 21, 2014. (Dkt. No. 2.) The same day, his process server attempted to serve Islam and Prova with the summons and complaint at their apartment at 60 West 57th Street in Manhattan. (Decl. of Raymond Hollings-worth dated May 20, 2014 (“Hollingsworth Deck”) ¶ 3; Return of Service, Dkt. Nos. 3-4.) The process server identified himself to the building concierge, who called up to defendants’ apartment. (Hollingsworth Deck ¶ 5.) There was no answer, and the concierge did not allow the process server to go up to the apartment. (Id.)

The process server returned the next day—March 22—in order to effectuate personal service of process. (Id.

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305 F.R.D. 53, 23 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 1797, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 964, 2015 WL 81977, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rana-v-islam-nysd-2015.