LeBlanc-Sternberg v. Fletcher

• Decision Date: 13 May 1998
• Docket Number: C,No. 96-6289,BLANC-STERNBER,96-6289
• Citation: 143 F.3d 765
• Parties: Rabbi Yitzchok Lehanie LeBlanc-Sternberg, Fred Walfish, Lewis Kamman, Park Avenue Synagogue, Inc., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Robert FLETCHER, Marianne Cucolo, and John C. Layne, Individually and in their capacity as Trustees of the Village of Airmont, Maureen Kendrick, Individually and in her capacity as Mayor of the Village of Civic Association, The Village of Airmont, The Town of Ramapo, and Herbert Reisman, Individually and in his capacity as Ramapo Town Supervisor, Defendants. Nicholas Vertullo, Individually and in his capacity as Trustee of the Village of Airmont, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 765

143 F.3d 765

Rabbi Yitzchok LeBLANC-STERNBERG, Chanie LeBlanc-Sternberg, Fred Walfish, Lewis Kamman, Park Avenue Synagogue, Inc., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Robert FLETCHER, Marianne Cucolo, and John C. Layne,

Individually and in their capacity as Trustees of the

Village of Airmont, Maureen Kendrick, Individually and in

her capacity as Mayor of the Village of Civic Association,

The Village of Airmont, The Town of Ramapo, and Herbert

Reisman, Individually and in his capacity as Ramapo Town

Supervisor, Defendants.

Nicholas Vertullo, Individually and in his capacity as

Trustee of the Village of Airmont, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 96-6289.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued Oct. 9, 1997.

Decided May 13, 1998.

Reuben S. Koolyk, New York City, (Arnold & Porter, New York City, Kevin W. Goering, Brian C. Dunning, Coudert Brothers, New York City, Craig L. Parshall, Fredricksburg, Virginia, Anne-Marie Arriel, The Rutherford Institute, Charlottesville, Virginia, on the brief), for Plaintiffs-Appellees.

Edmund C. Grainger, III, White Plains, New York (Charles A. Goldberger, Patricia W. Gurahian, McCullough, Goldberger & Staudt, White Plains, New York, on the brief), for Defendant-Appellant.

Before KEARSE and CABRANES, Circuit Judges, and CHIN, District Judge ^*.

KEARSE, Circuit Judge:

Defendant Nicholas Vertullo, a former trustee of the Village of Airmont, New York ("Airmont" or the "Village"), whom a jury found not liable in connection with the Village's violations of plaintiffs' civil rights, appeals from so much of an order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Gerard L. Goettel, Judge, as denied his motion under 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b) for an award of attorneys' fees against plaintiffs. The district court, although stating its view that the action against Vertullo was unreasonable and

groundless, denied the motion on the ground that that view was untenable in light of this Court's decision in LeBlanc-Sternberg v. Fletcher, 67 F.3d 412 (2d Cir.1995) ("LeBlanc-Sternberg I "), cert. denied, 518 U.S. 1017, 116 S.Ct. 2546, 135 L.Ed.2d 1067 (1996), which reversed the district court's ruling that there was no possible basis for the jury's verdict against the Village. Vertullo contends principally that the denial of fees was an abuse of discretion because the litigation against him was unreasonable and groundless. Finding no merit in his contentions, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

This matter, an action by plaintiffs Yitzchok LeBlanc-Sternberg, the rabbi of plaintiff Park Avenue Synagogue, Inc., et al., returns to us following appeals in which we, inter alia, reinstated a jury verdict in favor of plaintiffs against the Village for discrimination, and conspiracy to discriminate, against plaintiffs on the basis of their Orthodox Jewish religion, see LeBlanc-Sternberg I, 67 F.3d 412, reversed the district court's entry of judgment in favor of the Village in a parallel action brought by the United States, see id., and upheld, following proceedings on remand, the district court's granting of injunctive relief prohibiting the Village from engaging in further discrimination on the basis of religion and directing that certain amendments be made to the Village's zoning code, see LeBlanc-Sternberg v. Fletcher, 104 F.3d 355, 1996 WL 699648 (2d Cir. Dec.6, 1996) (unpublished disposition) ("LeBlanc-Sternberg II "), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 2431, 138 L.Ed.2d 193 (1997). The factual background of the litigation and the liability rulings is set forth in detail in LeBlanc-Sternberg I, and in the opinion we issue today in a companion appeal, LeBlanc-Sternberg v. Fletcher, No. 96-6287, 1998 WL 248641 (2d Cir.1998) ("LeBlanc-Sternberg III "). Familiarity with LeBlanc-Sternberg I and LeBlanc-Sternberg III is assumed.

A. The Events Leading to the Present Action

The evidence at trial included the following. In the mid-1980s, some residents of Airmont, then an unincorporated area within the Town of Ramapo, New York (the "Town"), objected to Town zoning provisions accommodating the Town's then-increasing population of Orthodox and Hasidic Jews. The Town's zoning code, inter alia, allowed rabbis, with some restrictions, to use their homes as congregational places of worship ("home synagogues") in order to permit Orthodox and Hasidic Jews to adhere to certain requirements of their religion. Some of the objecting Airmont residents formed defendant Airmont Civic Association, Inc. ("ACA"), which pushed for Airmont's incorporation as a village in order to permit Airmont to adopt its own zoning code designed to exclude Orthodox and Hasidic Jews. See, e.g., LeBlanc-Sternberg I, 67 F.3d at 418 (" 'everybody knows ... why [ACA] was formed. What does [ACA] and the proposed village plan to do to keep these Hasid[i]m out?' " (quoting trial testimony describing a 1986 meeting of ACA)).

Defendant Robert Fletcher was ACA's president. Vertullo was a member of ACA and was a close friend and "political ally" of Fletcher. Id. at 419. Vertullo became a member of the ACA board following the resignations of several board members who opposed ACA's discriminatory agenda. He was appointed to the board principally because of his view, in "general agreement" with the remaining board members (Trial Transcript at 3534), that home synagogues should be prohibited (see id. at 3528-30). While Vertullo was an ACA board member, ACA financed proceedings in state court to block LeBlanc-Sternberg's application to the Town for permission to maintain a home synagogue. At a public hearing before the Town's planning board on another Orthodox Jewish rabbi's application for a zoning variance, Vertullo read a statement, written by Fletcher and concurred in by Vertullo, in opposition to the variance.

After Airmont residents had voted to incorporate the Village, Fletcher stated at an ACA meeting that " 'the only reason we formed this village is to keep those Jews ... out of here.' " LeBlanc-Sternberg I, 67 F.3d at 419. Candidates backed by ACA, including Fletcher and Vertullo, were elected as

the Village's first trustees. In his capacity as Village trustee, Vertullo voted for the Village to finance another state court proceeding in opposition to LeBlanc-Sternberg's application for a home synagogue. He also asked the Village's attorney to bring suit to prevent another Orthodox Jewish rabbi from obtaining a zoning variance. Vertullo voted with the other trustees to appoint the members of the Village's zoning commission, which eventually drafted the Airmont zoning code, whose language could be interpreted to curb the establishment and operation of home synagogues and whose modification was eventually required by the district court's injunction, see United States v. Village of Airmont, 925 F.Supp. 160 (S.D.N.Y.1996), aff'd, LeBlanc-Sternberg II, 104 F.3d 355.

B. The Adjudication of Plaintiffs' Claims

Plaintiffs brought the present action against the Village, ACA, and a number of individual defendants, including Fletcher and Vertullo. The complaint alleged, inter alia, that Vertullo and the other defendants had conspired, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), to violate plaintiffs' rights under the First Amendment and the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq. ("FHA"), by restricting plaintiffs' freedom to worship and excluding them from Airmont.

Vertullo made several attempts, all of them unsuccessful, to have the claims against him summarily dismissed rather than tried. First, he moved to dismiss on the ground that the complaint failed to state a claim against him. The district court denied the motion. The court noted that "[t]he complaint suggests that ACA was originally formed to achieve the individual defendants' discriminatory goals and essentially became an instrument of the conspiracy." LeBlanc-Sternberg v. Fletcher, 781 F.Supp. 261, 273 (1991). Citing the individual defendants' active participation in ACA, and ACA's support of those defendants' candidacy for Village office, the district court found that "[a] sufficient connection ... has been alleged between the actions of the individual defendants and the instrument of the conspiracy [ACA] to let the conspiracy allegations stand." Id. Vertullo thereafter moved for summary judgment; the district court declined to grant the motion, permitting the case against him to proceed to trial. At the close of plaintiffs' evidence at trial, Vertullo moved for judgment as a matter of law, contending that the evidence presented against him was insufficient; the court reserved decision and permitted the case to go to the jury.

Vertullo prevailed, however, before the jury. While finding that plaintiffs' rights had been infringed by the Village, which had violated the FHA and had conspired to deny them their rights under the First Amendment, the jury concluded that plaintiffs had not proven their claims against the individual defendants. The district court thus entered judgment in favor of the individual defendants. In addition, the district judge subsequently entered judgment as a matter of law in favor of the Village, based on his perception that the jury's verdicts were inconsistent and on his own view that the evidence provided no possible basis for the jury's verdict against the Village. See LeBlanc-Sternberg I, 67 F.3d at 422-24. Plaintiffs appealed, contending, inter alia, that the verdicts were not inconsistent, that the evidence was sufficient to support the verdict against the Village, and that there should be a new trial of the claims against Vertullo because of alleged errors in the court's jury instructions. Vertullo cross-appealed, contending that he should have been granted judgment as a matter of law.

Insofar as is pertinent to this appeal, this Court in LeBlanc-Sternberg I reversed the judgment entered in favor of the Village, finding that the district judge was not entitled to substitute his own view of the evidence for that of the jury and that the...