Sudler v. City of N.Y.
| Decision Date | 07 August 2012 |
| Docket Number | Docket Nos. 11–1198–cv(L), 11–1216–cv(con). |
| Citation | 689 F.3d 159 |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
| Parties | Terence SUDLER, Timothy Batthany, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, Martin F. Horn, of the New York City Department of Corrections (NYCDOC), Warden, who was in Charge of Plaintiff's Correctional Facility at Rikers Island, Glenn S. Goord, Former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS), Anthony Annucci, Deputy Commissioner and Counsel for Department of Correctional Services, Ralph W. Santor, of Chateaugay A.S.A.C.T.C., Bonnie S. LaClair, Inmate Records Coordinator I at Chateaugay A.S.A.C.T.C., Michael Moes, Employees of Department of Correctional Services, Paul Poes, Supervisory Employees of the Department of Correctional Services, Robert J. Dennison, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of New York State Division of Parole, Jarvis Jenkins, Rikers Island Senior Parole Officer, Shield No. 408, Ruben Hernandez, Rikers Island Parole Officer, Shield No. 190, Pemberton, Parole Officer, Rikers Island, Billie Boe, New York State Division of Parole Employees at Chateaugay A.S.A.C.T.C. Who was Responsible for the Proper Calculation of Plaintiff's Time, Billie Boes, Employees of the NYS Division of Parole, Larry Loes, Supervisory Employees of the New York State Division of Parole, Luciente J. LeClaire, Jr., Superintendent of Ulster Correctional Facility From December 2005 to July 2006, Donna Dietz, Inmate Records Coordinator I at Ulster Correctional Facility from December 2005 to July 2006, Linda E. Stevens, at Ulster Correctional Facility who Wrote Memoranda to Plaintiff on December 29, 2005 and January 4, 2006, Larry Loe, New York State Division of Parole Supervisor of Linda E. Stevens, Julie Travis, Kenneth White, Robert Fall, Roger Watters, Donna Bleichert, Daniel Amend, Francine E. Smith, Sentencing Review Specialist, Tami J. Hughes, NYS Division of Parole Agency Program Aide in Albany, Charlotte A. Wright, A.P.A., Ivy Gaynor, P.O., Andrea W. Evans, Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of New York State Division of Parole, Luis O. Alvarado, Deborah Watkins, John Doe Clerical Staff Worker(s) at Plaintiff's NYC DOCS Correctional Facility, Who Failed to Transmit Plaintiff's Sentencing Paperwork to the New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS), Brian Fischer, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS), K. Mosley, Inmate Records Coordinator at Watertown Correctional Facility, NYS DOCS Official who Wrote on Plaintiff's Undated Complaint Letter, Counselor J. Clement, CC, Counselor Clough at Watertown Correctional Facility, Watertown Correctional Facility Defendant With Initials KG, Four Members of the IGRC at Watertown Correctional Facility, Chairperson of the IGRC at Watertown Correctional Facility, George B. Alexander, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of New York State Division of Parole, Senior Parole Agent Walters, V. Devlin, APA, Billie Boe New York State Division of Parole Employee, at Watertown Correctional Facility who was Responsible for the Proper Calculation of Plaintiff's Time, Mary Kopp, Employee at New York State Division of Parole in Albany, Theresa Viglione, Inmate Records Coordinator I at Ulster Correctional Facility for December 2007 to June 2008, Gail Williams, Inmate Records Coordinator II at Ulster Correctional Facility from December 2007 to June 2008, Orline Rohde, A Corrections Officer Member of the IGRC at Watertown Correctional Facility, Commissioner Dora B. Schriro, of the New York City Department of Corrections (NYCDOC), Superintendent Ekpe D. Ekpe, of Watertown Correctional Facility, Michael Moe, Second Corrections Officer Member of the IGRC at Watertown Correctional Facility, Valerie Oliver, Bureau Chief, NYC DOCS Custody Management & Environment Health Department, Venita Mabra, NYC DOC Inmate Records Coordinator, Warden Carmine Labruzzo, Defendants–Appellees, Bureau Chief, Department of Corrections Custody Management & Environmental Health Department from June 2005 to July 2006, Coordinator New York City Department of Corrections Inmate Records, from June 2005 to July 2006, John Doe, Clerical Staff Worker at Rikers Island who Failed to Transmit Plaintiff's Sentencing Paperwork to the New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS), Richard Roe, Supervisor of John Doe Clerical Staff Worker(s) at Plaintiff's NYC DOC Correctional Facility, who Failed to Transmit Plaintiff's Sentencing Paperwork to the New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS), Staff Worker, at Rikers Island who Failed to Transmit Plaintiff's Sentencing Paperwork to Department of Correctional Services, John Does, Employees of the City of New York, Richard Roes, Supervisory Employees of the City of New York, Michael Moe, Superintendent of Ulster Correctional Facility from December 2005 to July 2006, Michael Moe, Inmate Records Coordinator I at Ulster Correctional Facility from December 2005 to July 2006, New York State Division of Parole, Employee With Initials LES at Ulster Correctional Facility Who wrote Memoranda to Plaintiff on December 29, 2005 and January 4, 2006, Larry Loe, New York State Division of Parole Supervisor of New York State Division of Parole Employees with Initials “LES” at Ulster Correctional Facility who Wrote Memoranda to Plaintiff on December 29, 2005 and January 4, 2006, Defendants. |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Jeffrey A. Rothman, New York, N.Y. (Matthew D. Brinckerhoff, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, LLP, New York, N.Y., on the brief), for Plaintiffs–Appellants.
Simon Heller, Assistant Solicitor General, New York, N.Y., for Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General of the State of New York (Barbara D. Underwood, Solicitor General, Richard Dearing, Deputy Solicitor General, on the brief), for New York State Defendants–Appellees.
Thaddeus Hackworth, New York, N.Y., for Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York (Elizabeth S. Natrella, Leonard Koerner, on the brief), for City of New York Defendants–Appellees.
Before: WINTER and LIVINGSTON, Circuit Judges, and RAKOFF, District Judge.1
On appeal from the district court's grant of a motion to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment, this case presents two issues: (1) whether the due process rights of Plaintiffs–Appellants Terence Sudler (“Sudler”) and Timothy Batthany (“Batthany”) (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) were violated by a host of officers and employees of the New York State and New York City prison systems (collectively, “Defendants”), and (2) whether these officers and employees are entitled to qualified immunity for the conduct forming the predicate of Plaintiffs' 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suits. Because we conclude that, regardless whether Plaintiffs' due process rights were violated, Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity for the conduct in question, we affirm the district court.
While the parties hotly dispute many of the alleged facts in this case, the basic facts relevant to disposition of this appeal are not contested.
In 2000, Terence Sudler was imprisoned following his conviction in New York State of robbery in the third degree and criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fifth degree. He was sentenced to serve concurrent, indeterminate sentences of 3 to 6 years on the robbery count and 2.5 to 5 years on the criminal sale count. Sudler was released from prison and placed on parole on September 9, 2003. While on parole, Sudler was arrested for petit larceny. On June 23, 2005, he pled guilty to a parole violation and was sentenced to serve the remaining seven months and two days of his 2000 sentence in prison.2
About one month later, on July 13, Sudler appeared in New York Supreme Court, Bronx County, on the petit larceny charges for which he had recently been arrested. At the hearing, Sudler withdrew his earlier plea of not guilty as to the two counts of petit larceny and entered guilty pleas on each of these misdemeanor counts. He was sentenced by Justice Clancy of the New York Supreme Court as follows: Sudler's “Sentence and Commitment” form confirmed that his sentences on the petit larceny counts would “run concurrent with ... [his] parole time.”
Sudler served the two concurrent sentences for petit larceny in the custody of the New York City Department of Correction (“NYCDOC”) at Rikers Island (“Rikers”). When these sentences expired (which occurred in December 2005, due to a variety of credits), he was transferred from Rikers into the custody of the New York State Department of Correctional Services (“DOCS”) to serve the remainder of his undischarged felony sentence.3
At the time of his transfer to DOCS custody, Sudler's release date (the date on which he would be released from DOCS custody) was calculated. Defendant Linda E. Stevens (“Stevens”), an employee of the New York State Department of Parole (“DOP”), reviewed Sudler's file and determined that he was not entitled to parole jail time credit for the period of time he spent serving his misdemeanor sentences for petit larceny at Rikers. “Parole jail time” (“PJT”) credits may be given to a prisoner in DOCS custody for some or all of his time in NYCDOC custody and serve to reduce the number of days the prisoner must spend in DOCS custody. Although there is evidence that the parole file that Stevens reviewed contained a copy of Sudler's Sentence and Commitment form describing his misdemeanor sentences, which indicated that the sentences served at Rikers were to run concurrently with his sentence for violation of parole, Stevens did not give Sudler PJT credits for time spent...
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