Spampinato v. M. Breger & Co.

176 F. Supp. 149, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3222
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedJuly 9, 1958
DocketCiv. A. No. 15045
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 176 F. Supp. 149 (Spampinato v. M. Breger & Co.) 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
Spampinato v. M. Breger & Co., 176 F. Supp. 149, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3222 (E.D.N.Y. 1958).

Opinion

BYERS, Chief Judge.

This is a plaintiff’s motion for leave to file an amended complaint, and is therefore to be viewed with tolerance. [151]*151However, as stated in E. I. DuPont De Nemours & Co. v. United States Camo Corp., D.C., 19 F.R.D. 495, there is a measure of discretion in connection with such an application which the court is required to exercise.

The plaintiff Thomas O. Spampinato, who appears in person, has a grievance which he has been diligent to exploit.

The proposed pleading contains seven alleged causes of action which are set forth in 94 paragraphs; thus the very bulk of the pleadings, as proposed, challenges scrutiny.

Stated in lowest terms, the present grievance of the plaintiff has to do

(a) with statements said to have been made by the defendant Miles Breger in the course of earlier litigation in the Municipal Court of the City of New York which resulted in the plaintiff’s eviction for non-payment of rent. That matter ■came ultimately to the attention of the •Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where the decision was adverse to the plaintiff (Spampinato v. M. Breger & Co., 226 F.2d 742) ;

(b) with, as the plaintiff alleges, the ■violation of his civil rights in connection with his having been committed to the Hings County Hospital for observation as a person whose mind was disturbed. That committal was set aside by action of the Supreme Court of the State and in consequence the plaintiff believes that he lias a cause of action against four physicians and the City of New York; as to the latter, it was the activity of the Welfare Department which brought about his being committed for examination as above stated.

The disposition of the motion is as follows:

The amended complaint will be allowed to be filed upon condition that the first 34 paragraphs be withdrawn, since they have to do only with the landlord and tenant relationship which has been the subject of final adjudication; therefore it is not appropriate for reconsideration in this case.

When the foregoing has been accomplished, the complaint will then be addressed to the subject-matter above explained, and it is to be anticipated that the pleading will then be subject to further motions in order to clarify and simplify the issues, as the defendants may be advised.

Seemingly the plaintiff also seeks to compel the defendants to verify their answers. That will not be necessary in view of the provisions of Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A.

Seemingly also, the plaintiff desires a pretrial conference, and it may be appropriate for such to be held, but not until all motions directed to the amended pleadings shall have been disposed of.

Settle order.

On Motions to Dismiss and to Reargue

Four motions in this protracted case were before the court on October 30, 1958, when they were taken on submission, after brief argument by plaintiff, and on behalf of the defendants Breger.

An additional motion by the plaintiff was withdrawn by him, and hence is not herein discussed.

No. 1 is to dismiss the amended complaint “verified the 9th day of June, 1958”. That pleading was filed on August 1, 1958, which was subsequent to my decision of July 9, 1958, later to be referred to; the motion is made by the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York appearing also for Doctors Adel-man, Weissman and Perrault.

The notice of motion is also directed to “the Supplemental Amended Complaint,” verified August 16, 1958, filed two days later.

No. 2 is to dismiss the last named pleading as “not served as a matter of right or pursuant to an order of this Court” under Rule 15(a) of the F.R.C.P. [152]*152This motion is made for the defendant Dr. Winkler.

No. 3 is to dismiss as to the same defendant because of lack of jurisdiction of this court over the subject-matter.

No. 4 is a motion by the plaintiff to reargue a motion denied by me on October 8, 1958, to resettle an order signed by me on July 24, 1958, pursuant to the said decision of July 9, 1958. This motion was opposed by oral argument by Jacob Leiman, who appeared pursuant to a suggestion made by the court on October 22, 1958, when these motions were called. That suggestion was that perhaps counsel would agree to an arrangement which would have the effect of putting the plaintiff in the position of having refused to amend his complaint in the form in which it was framed, prior to having moved for leave to amend, which motion was granted conditionally, as stated in the said decision of July 9th.

On October 22nd, Mr. Leiman was not present and his representative stated that' he was not authorized to consent to the suggestion of the court, and thus the motions were adjourned to October 30th.

The argument in opposition to the motion to reargue then developed the following facts, which have been confirmed by an examination of the voluminous files of the court in this case:

Under date of September 22, 1958, Judge Bruchhausen filed a memorandum decision, D.C., 176 F.Supp. 278, denying plaintiff’s motion for reargument of a motion decided by Judge Zavatt on August 28, 1958, 166 F.Supp. 33, 35, which directed the Clerk to enter an order dismissing the complaint (i. e., as amended and later supplemented) as to the defendants Breger, which order was signed by the Clerk on September 2, 1958.

The motion to reargue came before Judge Bruchhausen as the result of the plaintiff’s having filed under date of September 12, 1958, an affidavit of bias or prejudice against Judge Zavatt, seemingly because plaintiff did not agree with his decision.

As stated, the motion for reargument was denied, and a memorandum giving reasons for that decision was filed.

Judge Zavatt’s opinion of August 28, 1958, contains a helpful discussion of the motion then before him on the part of the defendants Breger to dismiss the amended complaint and demonstrates that the plaintiff, having availed himself of the permission to file an amended complaint, did so by virtue of a pleading which omitted the first thirty-four paragraphs of his pleading which was before the court in connection with his motion to amend above referred to.

The amended pleading had to do with the defendant Miles Breger as to the First and Second causes of action, but nothing was alleged against M. Breger & Co., Inc., and consequently a motion to dismiss as to the corporation was granted without discussion.

The opinion proceeds to consider the alleged causes against Miles Breger as an individual, and finds that no cause is pleaded over which this court has jurisdiction. That view was re-examined by Judge Bruchhausen, as above stated, on the motion to reargue, and I also am in complete accord with the view expressed by Judge Zavatt.

If the plaintiff had chosen to appeal from the order of September 2nd dismissing the complaint as to the defendants Breger, he had the opportunity to do so.

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Bluebook (online)
176 F. Supp. 149, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spampinato-v-m-breger-co-nyed-1958.