Spiegel v. Schulmann

604 F.3d 72, 23 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 129, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 9274, 2010 WL 1791417
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedMay 6, 2010
DocketDocket 06-5914-cv
StatusPublished
Cited by406 cases

This text of 604 F.3d 72 (Spiegel v. Schulmann) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spiegel v. Schulmann, 604 F.3d 72, 23 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 129, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 9274, 2010 WL 1791417 (2d Cir. 2010).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Elliot Spiegel and Jonathan Schatzberg (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) appeal from the November 30, 2006, judgment of the district court awarding summary judgment to Defendants-Appellees Daniel “Tiger” Schulmann and UAK Management Company, Inc. (“UAK”) (collectively, “Defendants”), and dismissing, inter alia, Plaintiffs’ claims that Schulmann violated the anti-retaliation provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq. (“ADA” or “the Act”), as well as the New York State Human Rights Law (“NYSHRL”), N.Y. Exec. Law § 296 et seq., and the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”), N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-107, when he directed their termination from positions as instructors at Tiger Schulmann Karate Schools. We agree with the district court’s determina *76 tion that there was no basis for individual liability with respect to the ADA retaliation claims made under 42 U.S.C. § 12203. We also hold that the district court correctly decided that the Plaintiffs failed to state a claim under the NYSHRL. However, with respect to the NYCHRL, we vacate and remand so that the district court may consider in the first instance whether obesity is a disability under the NYCHRL. We find the Plaintiffs’ remaining bases for appeal to be without merit. Accordingly, we affirm in part and vacate the judgment of the district court, and remand.

I. Background

The parties do not dispute that in June 2002 Spiegel was terminated from his position as an instructor at a Tiger Schulmann Karate School located in Stamford, Connecticut. In the fall of 2002, Spiegel notified Schulmann and UAK that he intended to file an employment discrimination charge with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities (“CCHRO”), alleging that he had been terminated on the basis of his weight. Subsequently, in November 2002, Schatzberg, who was known to be Spiegel’s friend and roommate, was terminated from his position as an instructor at a Tiger Schulmann Karate School in Rego Park, Queens. After the Plaintiffs filed their original ADA complaint in the district court, the corporation that operates the Stamford karate school filed a lawsuit against Spiegel in Connecticut state court, alleging that he had attempted to interfere with the Stamford school’s contract with one of its employees. In them second amended complaint in this case, the Plaintiffs alleged, inter alia, that Schulmann had retaliated against them in violation of the anti-retaliation provision of the ADA by terminating Schatzberg from the Rego Park Center and by filing the state court lawsuit against Spiegel, and that Schulmann had violated the NYSHRL and NYCHRL by terminating Spiegel on the basis of his weight.

The Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, which the district court granted in its entirety. It found that it had no personal jurisdiction over UAK because the company did not do business in New York, nor did the claims in this action arise from any transactions conducted in New York. With respect to Schulmann, the court concluded that the ADA retaliation claims could not be sustained because Plaintiffs had offered no theory upon which Schulmann, an individual who was not the Defendants’ employer, could be held liable for a claim of ADA retaliation. The Plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate a genuine issue of material fact with respect to the prima facie elements of their NYSHRL discriminatory firing claim, the court found, and had failed under the parallel NYCHRL claim to rebut as pretextual the legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for the firing produced by the Defendants.

This appeal followed.

I. Personal Jurisdiction over UAK

This Court reviews de novo a district court’s legal conclusion regarding whether a party has demonstrated a prima facie case of personal jurisdiction. See CutCo Indus., Inc. v. Naughton, 806 F.2d 361, 365 (2d Cir.1986). We hold that the district court lacked personal jurisdiction over UAK.

A district court’s personal jurisdiction is determined by the law of the state in which the court is located. See Thomas v. Ashcroft, 470 F.3d 491, 495 (2d Cir.2006). In this case, the Plaintiffs argue that UAK was subject to the district court’s personal jurisdiction under N.Y. *77 C.P.L.R. § 302(a)(1). Section 302(a)(1), however, provides for personal jurisdiction only with respect to causes of action arising out of the transaction of business conducted in New York. See, e.g., Bank Brussels Lambert v. Fiddler Gonzalez & Rodriguez, 171 F.3d 779, 787 (2d Cir.1999) (noting that a single transaction can satisfy the requirements of § 302(a)(1) “so long as the relevant cause of action also arises from that transaction”) (citing George Reiner & Co. v. Schwartz, 41 N.Y.2d 648, 394 N.Y.S.2d 844, 363 N.E.2d 551 (1977)). The Plaintiffs allege that references to “headquarters” made by several witnesses during depositions in this case demonstrate that UAK was involved in the decisions to terminate the Plaintiffs’ employment. Nothing in the record, however, demonstrates that any witness used “headquarters” to refer to “UAK” or intended to suggest that UAK was the “headquarters” from which the directive to terminate the Plaintiffs originated.

The Plaintiffs also argue that the record demonstrated that UAK’s services to the New York karate centers included personnel matters such that the terminations of the Plaintiffs arose out of those services. Again, nothing in the record demonstrates that, in the context of personnel matters, UAK provided anything more than administrative services and payroll processing to the New York karate centers. Although the record contains evidence that Vincent Gravina, a part-owner of the Rego Park Center, notified UAK employees when he terminated Schatzberg’s employment, that evidence also demonstrates that Gravina did so only to effect Schatzberg’s removal from the payroll of the karate center. The Plaintiffs have failed to offer any evidence that their causes of action against UAK arise from UAK’s transaction of business in New York State. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s judgment on this point. 1

II. State Law Invasion of Privacy Claim

We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, “examining the evidence in the light most favorable to, and drawing all inferences in favor of, the non-movant.” Sheppard v. Beerman, 317 F.3d 351, 354 (2d Cir.2003).

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Bluebook (online)
604 F.3d 72, 23 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 129, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 9274, 2010 WL 1791417, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spiegel-v-schulmann-ca2-2010.