Shovah v. Mercure

44 F. Supp. 3d 504, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119290, 2014 WL 4240027
CourtDistrict Court, D. Vermont
DecidedAugust 27, 2014
DocketCase No. 2:11-CV-201
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 44 F. Supp. 3d 504 (Shovah v. Mercure) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Vermont primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shovah v. Mercure, 44 F. Supp. 3d 504, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119290, 2014 WL 4240027 (D. Vt. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

WILLIAM K. SESSIONS III, District Judge.

Plaintiff Michael Shovah brings this civil action under 18 U.S.C. § 2255, alleging that Gary Mercure, a former priest from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany New York, Inc. (the “Diocese”), engaged in sexual exploitation and abuse of children in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2422 and 2423. Mercure has now moved for summary judgment dismissing the claim as untimely under 18 U.S.C. § 2255(b)’s six-year statute of limitations. Shovah has moved to amend the complaint to add parallel claims under Vermont law. For the reasons stated below, the Court grants Plaintiffs motion to amend, ECF No. 146. The Court grants Defendant’s motion.for summary judgment, ECF No. 142, thereby dismissing Plaintiffs federal claims. The Court questions sua sponte its subject matter jurisdiction over the remaining claims and orders further briefing from the parties regarding this issue.

BACKGROUND

Defendant Gary Mercure served as a priest for the Diocese during the time relevant to this action. As a child, Shovah was a parishioner at the Diocese and received religious training from Mercure. Shovah alleges that Mercure transported him from New York to Vermont with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and did engage in such activity while Sho-vah was a minor. Because Shovah was born on May 11, 1976, any unlawful conduct had to have occurred before Shovah’s eighteenth birthday on May 11, 1994. While the alleged abuse took place at least twenty years ago, Plaintiff asserts in his pleadings that he “discovered” that the sexual activity caused his injuries and conditions within six years of filing this action in 2011. Compl. ¶ 2.1 Shovah alleges that he did not make the connection between Mercure’s conduct and his own psychological harm until much later; however, he does not allege that he was unaware of the conduct when it occurred or that he suppressed the memory of the sexual abuse itself.

[507]*507Shovah filed this suit on August 10, 2011, under 18 U.S.C. § 2255, which creates a civil remedy for personal injuries caused by violations of federal child abuse laws. Specifically, Shovah alleges that he was a victim under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2422,2 which criminalizes the use of interstate commerce to induce an individual under 18 to engage in sexual activity, and 2423,3 which criminalizes interstate transport of an individual under the age of 18 with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Shovah also alleges that Mercure could be charged with sexual assault (Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 3252) and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child (Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 2602) under Vermont state law.4 Mercure is currently incarcerated in the State of Massachusetts.

Defendant now moves to dismiss the § 2255 claim at summary judgment on the grounds that it was filed outside the six-year statute of limitations provided by 18 U.S.C. § 2255(b). Plaintiff has moved to amend the complaint to bring a cause of action specifically arising under Vermont law.

DISCUSSION

I. Motion to Amend

Shovah has moved to file a First Amended Complaint. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15 provides that “the court should freely give leave [to amend] when justice so requires.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a)(2). Amendment should be permitted unless the defendant shows “[u]ndue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of the movant, repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue prejudice to the opposing party ... [or] futility of amendment.” Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962).

Shovah contends that justice requires leave to amend due to the mandamus order by the Second Circuit dis[508]*508missing the Diocese from the case, In re Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, 745 F.3d at 41, and the recent summary order issued by the Second Circuit suggesting that Plaintiffs federal claims may be precluded by § 2255’s statute of limitations, S.M. v. Clash, 558 Fed.Appx. 44, 45 (2d Cir.2014). Shovah’s First Amended Complaint seeks to add a cause of action under Vermont law regarding the same conduct already alleged in the original complaint—specifically, Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 12, § 522. Plaintiffs motion to amend is therefore a conceded attempt to maintain his action in this Court even if the federal claims are dismissed.

Prejudice and delay concerns do not counsel against granting the motion to amend in this instance. Where the additional facts alleged in an amended complaint “arise out of the same core of operative facts,” as here, prejudice is mitigated because the original complaint provided the defendant with adequate notice of the allegations. Upper Valley Ass’n for Handicapped Citizens v. Mills, 928 F.Supp. 429, 434 (D.Vt.1996). Furthermore, any delay in amendment has not been prejudicial to Mercure because the parties have not commenced discovery on this matter. See id.

Defendant opposes the motion to amend on the grounds of futility, stating that the Court does not have subject matter jurisdiction over the new state law claims. Amendment should not be permitted where the amended complaint would not survive a motion to dismiss. See id. However, Shovah also pleads diversity jurisdiction under § 1332. While the jurisdictional issue raises questions requiring supplementary briefing from the parties (as discussed further below), the Court nonetheless grants Shovah’s motion to amend and will consider Defendant’s motion for summary judgment in light of the First Amended Complaint.

II. Motion for Summary Judgment

Mercure moves for summary judgment on the grounds that Shovah’s federal claim is untimely under the statute of limitations laid out in 18 U.S.C. § 2255(b). Shovah brings his claim under § 2255, which provides:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
44 F. Supp. 3d 504, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119290, 2014 WL 4240027, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shovah-v-mercure-vtd-2014.