Talarico v. Port Auth. of N.Y. & N.J.

367 F. Supp. 3d 161
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 12, 2019
Docket18-CV-909 (JPO)
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 367 F. Supp. 3d 161 (Talarico v. Port Auth. of N.Y. & N.J.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Talarico v. Port Auth. of N.Y. & N.J., 367 F. Supp. 3d 161 (S.D. Ill. 2019).

Opinion

J. PAUL OETKEN, District Judge:

Plaintiff Charlene Talarico has filed this putative class action against her employer, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (the "Port Authority"), alleging that the Port Authority has engaged in a practice of filming its employees' private medical examinations without their knowledge or consent. Talarico claims that this alleged practice violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the analogous guarantees of the New York State Constitution, and she seeks individual and class-wide relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (" Section 1983") and New York law. The Port Authority has moved to dismiss certain of Talarico's claims and to strike all of her class allegations. (Dkt. No. 15.) For the reasons that follow, the Port Authority's motion is granted in part and denied in part.

I. Background

For purposes of resolving the Port Authority's motion, the Court draws its factual recitation from the allegations in Talarico's complaint.

Charlene Talarico numbers among the Port Authority's roughly 8,000 employees. (Dkt. No. 1 ("Compl.") ¶¶ 1-2, 13.) On August 4, 2016, after receiving a hand injury in an altercation with a coworker, Talarico visited one of the Medical Services Offices that the Port Authority provides for the exclusive use of its workers. (Compl. ¶¶ 3, 16.) There, she received an examination from a Port Authority physician in a private examination room. (Compl. ¶¶ 4, 30-32.)

Following this incident, Talarico initiated legal proceedings in a New Jersey municipal court against the coworker who *165had injured her. (Compl. ¶¶ 3, 34.) During the course of discovery, the Port Authority allowed Talarico to view several video recordings, one of which showed Talarico's August 4, 2016 medical examination in its entirety. (Compl. ¶¶ 4, 35-36.) The recording appeared to have been taken from a wall- or ceiling-mounted camera that had been pointed directly into the examination area. (Compl. ¶¶ 5, 37-38.) Talarico had not previously been aware of the recording, and she had never consented to having her examination recorded. (Compl. ¶¶ 4, 40.)

On February 1, 2018, Talarico initiated the instant lawsuit against the Port Authority on behalf of herself and a proposed class of all other employees who had been and would be subjected to "covert video surveillance" during a medical examination at any of the Port Authority's Medical Services Offices. (Compl. ¶¶ 1, 19.) Talarico's four-count complaint claims that the Port Authority's alleged practice of covertly filming its employees' medical examinations without their consent violates the guarantees against unreasonable searches enshrined in the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (Count One) and Article I, § 12, of the New York State Constitution (Count Three), and that the practice also violates the privacy guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (Count Two) and Article I, § 6, of the New York State Constitution (Count Four). (Compl. ¶¶ 42-60.) Talarico pursues her federal claims by way of Section 1983, a remedial federal civil-rights statute, and she pursues her state-law claims directly under the New York State Constitution. (Id. ) In addition to class-wide relief, Talarico seeks compensatory and punitive damages on her own behalf. (Compl. ¶ 26.)

On March 27, 2018, the Port Authority moved to dismiss or strike several of Talarico's claims. (Dkt. No. 15.) Specifically, the Port Authority argues that Talarico's Section 1983 claims, as well as her claim for punitive damages, must be dismissed in their entirety for failure to state a viable legal claim. (Dkt. No. 18 at 4-6, 20.) To the extent that Talarico has stated a claim under federal law, the Port Authority further argues that her state-law claims must be dismissed in light of the available federal remedy. (Dkt. No. 18 at 6-8.) Finally, the Port Authority moves to dismiss or strike all of Talarico's class claims.1 (Dkt. No. 18 at 8-19.)

The Court now turns to the merits of the Port Authority's motion.

II. Legal Standard

A. Motion to Dismiss

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), a defendant may move to dismiss the allegations against it for "failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). When considering a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a court must "assum[e] that all the allegations in the complaint are true (even if doubtful in fact)" and ask whether those allegations "raise a right to relief above the speculative level." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). The court will answer in the affirmative only if the complaint "contain[s] sufficient factual matter, accepted *166as true, to 'state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.' " Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Twombly , 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955 ). And the court will find a claim to be facially plausible where, "draw[ing] on its judicial experience and common sense," the court can infer from the facts alleged in the complaint "more than the mere possibility" that, if those facts are true, the defendant has committed actionable misconduct. Id. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

B. Motion to Strike Class Claims

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure

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Bluebook (online)
367 F. Supp. 3d 161, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/talarico-v-port-auth-of-ny-nj-ilsd-2019.