Redd v. New York State Division of Parole

923 F. Supp. 2d 393, 2013 WL 588233
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 24, 2013
DocketNo. 07-CV-120 (NGG)(LB)
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 923 F. Supp. 2d 393 (Redd v. New York State Division of Parole) 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
Redd v. New York State Division of Parole, 923 F. Supp. 2d 393, 2013 WL 588233 (E.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

NICHOLAS G. GARAUFIS, District Judge.

On January 28, 2013, this court will begin a jury trial to resolve Plaintiff Fedie R. Redd’s sexual harassment claim against Defendant New York State Division of Parole (“DOP”). The court assumes familiarity with the factual and procedural background, which can be found in the Second Circuit’s decision in this case, see Redd v. N.Y. State Div. of Parole, 678 F.3d 166 (2d Cir.2012), and this court’s recent decision granting summary judgment on Redd’s retaliation claim against DOP and her state law claims against Defendant José Burgos (see Dec. 20, 2012, Mem. & Order (Dkt. 91, 923 F.Supp.2d 371, 2012 WL 7148220) (the “December Opinion”)). Before the court are three motions: (1) Redd’s motion for reconsideration of the December Opinion (Dkt. 92); (2) DOP’s motion in limine (Dkt. 95); and (3) Redd’s motion in limine (Dkt. 98). For the reasons set forth below, Redd’s motion for reconsideration is DENIED, and the parties’ motions in limine are each GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

I. REDD’S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION

The standard for a motion for reconsideration is “strict.” Shrader v. CSX Transp., Inc., 70 F.3d 255, 257 (2d Cir.1995). Such motions may be granted: (1) if the court overlooks critical facts; (2) if it overlooks controlling decisions that could have changed its decision, see id.; (3) in light of an intervening change in controlling law; (4) in light of new evidence; (5) to correct clear error; or (6) to prevent manifest injustice, see Virgin Atl. Airways v. Nat’l Mediation Bd., 956 F.2d 1245, 1255 (2d Cir.1992). “The moving party must also demonstrate that any available factual matters or controlling precedent were presented to the court on the underlying motion.” Gayle v. Harry’s Nurses Registry, Inc., No. 07-CV-4672 (NGGXMDG), 2010 WL 5477727, at *3 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 20, 2010) (alteration and internal quotation marks omitted). “A motion for reconsideration is not intended as a vehicle for a party dissatisfied with the Court’s ruling to advance new theories that the movant failed to advance in connection with the underlying motion nor a chance for a party to take a second bite at the apple.” Norton v. Town of Islip, No. 04-CV-3079 (NGG)(WDW), 2013 WL 84896, at *3 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 7, 2013) (alterations and internal quotation marks omitted).

[397]*397Redd makes two arguments for why the court should reconsider its December Opinion, neither of which has merit.

First, Redd argues that the court overlooked the probative value of Burgos’s deposition testimony. (See Pl. Recons. Mem. (Dkt. 93) at 2-3.) One of the reasons the court provided for its conclusion that Burgos’s deposition testimony did not qualify as “direct evidence” of retaliation was that, because “the decisionmaker ultimately responsible for Redd’s termination was the arbitrator” — not Burgos — “it required] an[ ] inferential step to conclude” from his testimony that Redd’s sexual harassment accusations “influenced the ultimate decision to terminate her.” (December Opinion at 386, at *14.) Redd argues that this reasoning overlooks the Supreme Court’s decision in Staub v. Proctor Hospital, — U.S.-, 131 S.Ct. 1186, 179 L.Ed.2d 144 (2011), which held that “if a supervisor performs an act motivated by antimilitary animus that is intended by the supervisor to cause an adverse employment action, and if that act is a proximate cause of the ultimate employment action, then the employer is liable under the [Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (‘USERRA’) ].” Id. at 1194.

This argument is not a proper ground for Redd’s motion for reconsideration because Redd failed to raise it in connection with the underlying summary judgment motion, and has no , apparent excuse for this failure. See Norton, 2013 WL 84896, at *3; Gayle, 2010 WL 5477727, at *3; Richard Feiner & Co. v. BMG Music Spain, No. 01-CV-0937 (JSR), 2003 WL 21496812, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. June 27, 2003) (“[P]laintiff is advancing new. arguments without excuse as to why these arguments were not raised previously, and these arguments are therefore not cognizable on a motion for reconsideration-.”). In any event, even assuming that Staub applies to Title VII retaliation claims rather than USERRA claims alone (a possibility that Staub implied but did not decide), the case does not affect the court’s analysis. The court did not suggest that Burgos’s testimony was not at all probative of retaliation; to the contrary, it noted that “Bur-gos’s statement must be considered along with the other [] evidence of retaliation that Redd has proffered.” (December Opinion at 387, at *15.) The portion of the December Opinion that Redd criticizes was part of the court’s analysis of whether Burgos’s deposition testimony constitutes direct evidence of retaliation — that is, “evidence tending to show, without resort to inference, the existence of a fact in question.” Tyler v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 958 F.2d 1176, 1183 (2d Cir.1992). (See December Opinion at 385, at *12.) Staub does not change the court’s conclusion that, because Burgos was not the ultimate decisionmaker, “it requires an[ ] inferential stép” to conclude that' Redd’s sexual harassment allegations influenced the decision to terminate her, and thus that his testimony is not direct evidence of retaliation. Nor does Staub change the court’s conclusion that this required inferential step, along with two others the court discussed (see December Opinion at 385-88, at *13-15), renders the inference of causation raised by Burgos’s statements' “too weak to' overcome the significant weight given to the arbitrator’s decision” (id. at *18 (citing Collins v. N.Y. City Trans. Auth., 305 F.3d 113, 119 (2d Cir.2002))).1

Second, Redd argues that the court overlooked facts concerning DOP employees that she claims were similarly situated [398]*398to her.- (PL-Recons. Mem. at 4.) The first of - these purported facts is “defendants’ admission that virtually any instance of dishonesty was a firing offense regardless of the [parole officer’s] employment history,” a policy that Redd claims was not applied “to other [parole officers] such as Deborah Liehmann and Wayne Spence [ ] who allegedly .made false statements in Unusual Incident Reports.” {Id.) As in her summary judgment opposition {see PI. Summ. J. Opp’n, (Dkt. 80) at 6, 10, 20), Redd bases this. allegation on a single statement .in Burgos’s deposition: that making a false statement “would ... almost a hundred percent of the time drive a decision to propose to terminate someone” (PI. Recons. Mem. at 4).

The court did not “overlook” Redd’s argument but simply chose not to address it because it makes little sense. If Liehmann and Spence made false statements and were not fired, then DOP surely did not have an absolute policy of firing probation officers who made false statements. And if so, this would mean not that DOP retaliated against Redd, but (at worst) that Burgos misstated DOP’s termination policy.

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