Attallah v. N.Y. Coll. of Osteopathic Med.

• Decision Date: 27 March 2015
• Docket Number: No. 12–CV–6132 JFBARL.,12–CV–6132 JFBARL.
• Citation: 94 F.Supp.3d 448
• Parties: Ahdy L. ATTALLAH, Plaintiff, v. NEW YORK COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE; New York Institute of Technology; Edward Guiliano and Barbara Ross–Lee, D.O., each in his or her official capacity at New York Institute of Technology; Thomas Scandalis, D.O., Mary Ann Achtziger, Kurt F. Amsler, Claire E. Bryant, and John Does 1, 2, 3 and 4, each individually and in his or her official supervisory role at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine; Nassau University Medical Center; Nassau Health Care Corporation; Alan Multz, M.D., Martin Diamond, D.O., Prachi Anand, M.D., and John Smith 1 through John Smith 12, Jane Smith 1, Jane Smith 2, each individually and in his or her official supervisory role at Nassau University Medical Center or Nassau Health Care Corporation; Gulnara G. Chikvaidze aka Culnara G. Chikvaidze, Iveri Shahiashivili, and Tamara I. Shashiashvili aka Tamara Chachiashvili aka Tamara Shashiashvilli aka Tamara Shashiashivli, each in his or her personal capacity, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

94 F.Supp.3d 448

Ahdy L. ATTALLAH, Plaintiff

v.NEW YORK COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE; New York Institute of Technology; Edward Guiliano and Barbara Ross–Lee, D.O., each in his or her official capacity at New York Institute of Technology; Thomas Scandalis, D.O., Mary Ann Achtziger, Kurt F. Amsler, Claire E. Bryant, and John Does 1, 2, 3 and 4, each individually and in his or her official supervisory role at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine; Nassau University Medical Center; Nassau Health Care Corporation; Alan Multz, M.D., Martin Diamond, D.O., Prachi Anand, M.D., and John Smith 1 through John Smith 12, Jane Smith 1, Jane Smith 2, each individually and in his or her official supervisory role at Nassau University Medical Center or Nassau Health Care Corporation; Gulnara G. Chikvaidze aka Culnara G. Chikvaidze, Iveri Shahiashivili, and Tamara I. Shashiashvili aka Tamara Chachiashvili aka Tamara Shashiashvilli aka Tamara Shashiashivli, each in his or her personal capacity, Defendants.

No. 12–CV–6132 JFBARL.

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

Signed March 27, 2015.

Plaintiff is represented by Kevin T. Mulhearn of Kevin T. Mulhearn, P.C., Orangeburg, NY.

Defendant Diamond is represented by Daniel R. Milstein of Greenberg Traurig LLP, New York, NY.

The NHCC defendants are represented by Amy Ventry–Kagan and William H. Ng of Littler Mendelson, Melville, NY.

The NYIT defendants are represented by Douglas P. Catalano, Neil G. Sparber, and Samantha E. Beltre of Norton Rose Fulbright U.S. LLP, New York, NY.

The Shashiashvili defendants are represented by Gary Schoer, Esq., Syosset, NY.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOSEPH F. BIANCO, District Judge:

On December 12, 2012, plaintiff Ahdy L. Attallah (“plaintiff”) filed a complaint alleging civil rights violations pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (“Section 1983 ”) as well as numerous violations of New York law, such as breach of contract, fraud, and unjust enrichment, against: New York College of Osteopathic Medicine (“NYCOM”), New York Institute of Technology (“NYIT”), Edward Guiliano, Barbara Ross–Lee, Thomas Scandalis, Mary Ann Achtziger, Kurt F. Amsler, and Claire E. Bryant (together, the “NYIT defendants”); Nassau University Medical Center (“NUMC”), Nassau Health Care Corporation (“NHCC”), Alan Multz, and Prachi Anand (together, the “NHCC defendants”); Gulnara G. Chikvaidze, Iveri Shashiashivili, and Tamara I. Shashiashvili (together, the “Shashiashvili defendants”); and Martin Diamond.

Plaintiff's complaint alleges a lengthy series of events underlying this action, but the gravamen is that plaintiff, a medical student at NYCOM, ended a romantic relationship with Tamara Shashiashvili (“Shashiashvili”), a medical resident at NUMC with whom he was co-habitating in her NUMC-provided housing, because she owed him $30,000 and was behaving erratically. Plaintiff alleges Shashiashvili then obtained a restraining order against him in Nassau County Family Court—using allegedly false accusations against plaintiff of harassment, violence, and other misdeeds as support for her petition—in retaliation for the breakup and to avoid paying the debt. She then allegedly informed NUMC/NHCC employees about the order, stating that plaintiff continued to harass her. Plaintiff alleges that Diamond, at the time an NUMC employee, then notified a NYCOM administrator about the order and Shashiashvili's other accusations. Plaintiff hypothesizes that all defendants then conspired to expel plaintiff from NYCOM—depriving him of his property rights in his medical education and his liberty interest in pursuing an occupation in medicine—and to evict him from Shashiashvili's NUMC housing, depriving him of a property interest, in violation of Section 1983.¹

Presently before the Court are motions to dismiss the fourth amended complaint² by the Shashiashvili defendants, the NYIT defendants, the NHCC defendants, and Diamond, as well as the NYIT defendants' motion to sever the counts against the Shashiashvili defendants. For the following reasons, the Court grants the motions and dismisses the federal claims in the amended complaint with prejudice. Furthermore, the Court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over plaintiff's state law claims at this juncture, and dismisses them without prejudice. The motion to sever is, therefore, dismissed as moot.

I. Background

A. Facts

The following facts are taken from the Amended Complaint, and are not findings of fact by the Court. Instead, the Court will assume these facts to be true and, for purposes of the pending motion to dismiss, will construe them in a light most favorable to plaintiff, the non-moving party.

Plaintiff enrolled in 2008 as a medical student at NYCOM, a medical school privately owned and operated by NYIT. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 12, 16–17.) Plaintiff had practiced as a doctor in Egypt before moving to the United States in 1996. (Id. ¶ 12.) In 1999, plaintiff alleges he was investigated by the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners because of a complaint made against him by a disgruntled ex-girlfriend. (Id. ¶ 37.) The investigation ended with the Board issuing a “consent order” on September 10, 2001 finding that plaintiff had “misrepresented his licensing status” during a prior court proceeding, and ordering that plaintiff “cease and desist from engaging in or holding himself out as engaging in the practice of medicine and surgery and from using the title or designation ‘doctor,’ ‘physician,’ or any other language or title denoting licensure.” (Id.; Exhibit G in ECF No. 62–9.)

While plaintiff was a student at NYCOM, he became romantically involved with Shashiashvili, a medical resident at NUMC. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 12–13.) At some point in 2009, plaintiff and Shashiashvili moved into subsidized housing provided to Shashiashvili by her employer, NUMC. (Id. ¶¶ 86–87.) NUMC is a teaching hospital owned and operated by NHCC, a public benefit corporation created pursuant to New York Public Authorities Law Article 10(c). (Id. ¶¶ 18–19.)

In August 2010, after a long series of disagreements alleged by plaintiff, plaintiff ended his personal relationship with Shashiashvili, informing her that he was moving out of her NUMC housing, and that she would have to repay several loans that he had given her. (Id. ¶¶ 38–184.)³ Plaintiff alleges that Shashiashvili then, with the assistance of the other Shashiashvili defendants, fraudulently obtained an ex parte temporary order of protection against plaintiff in Nassau County Family Court—making a number of allegedly false accusations against plaintiff in her petition, such as he was stalking, harassing, and possibly poisoning her—after initially attempting and failing to obtain one in Connecticut state court. (Id. ¶¶ 195–218; see also ECF No. 62–3.)

Plaintiff alleges that on or around August 20 or 23, 2010, Shashiashvili then went to NUMC and made various statements about plaintiff, his alleged threats, and the temporary order of protection to multiple NUMC employees, including Multz, Anand, and others. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 220–25.) Plaintiff also alleges that Shashiashvili obtained a copy of the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners' consent order from the Internet, and showed that to Anand, Multz, and others. (Id. ¶ 241.) Plaintiff alleges that Shashiashvili also informed NUMC employees that plaintiff had forced her to obtain a $1.5 million life insurance policy naming him as the sole beneficiary. (Id. ¶ 235.) Plaintiff alleges that Multz then contacted Diamond—at that time the Director of Osteopathic Medical Education at NUMC and a board member of the NYCOM Educational Consortium (“NYCOMEC”), the organization that links NYCOM and the medical centers that provide rotations and residencies to its students—and advised him of Shashiashvili's concerns about plaintiff. (Id. ¶¶ 21, 30, 239.)

According to plaintiff, Diamond communicated with NYCOM administrators, including Achtziger and/or Scandalis (NYCOM's dean), about Shashiashvili's accusations against plaintiff. (Id. ¶¶ 249–251, 270.) Diamond allegedly complained to the NYCOM administrators that, among other things, plaintiff was harassing Shashiashvili, that he had violated an order of protection she had obtained, and that there was a warrant for his arrest. (Id. ¶¶ 249–57, 270.)

Plaintiff alleges upon information and belief that Diamond and possibly other NUMC employees then conspired with NYCOM administrators, such as Achtziger and Scandalis, to have NYCOM retaliate against plaintiff for these perceived offenses against Shashiashvili by expelling plaintiff from NYCOM. (Id. ¶¶ 259–60.) They also conspired to “compel plaintiff to leave his Hospital apartment,” i.e. Shashiashvili's NUMC-subsidized housing. (Id. )

Plaintiff alleges the NYIT defendants initiated an independent investigation of the accusations, including two in-person meetings with plaintiff: the first on August 25, 2010, with Achtziger and another administrator; and the second on August 26, 2010, for a full disciplinary hearing under the auspices of a Student Discipline Review Board consisting of four NYCOM administrators (Scandalis, Achtziger, Amsler, and Bryant).⁴ (Id. ¶¶ 271–326.)

During these meetings, NYCOM administrators questioned plaintiff about, among other things, his prior criminal history, a 1999 decision by the New Jersey Medical Board involving plaintiff which instructed him to “cease and desist from engaging in or holding himself out as engaging in the practice of medicine and surgery,” his truthfulness on his application to NYCOM, his relationship with Shashiashvili, and her accusations against him. (See id. ¶¶ 37, 269–432.) Plaintiff alleges that he informed the administrators during the first meeting that his only prior arrest or conviction had been for shoplifting in the United States in 1990 while here on vacation, but that the charges were dropped. (Id. ¶ 303.) Before the second meeting, plaintiff alleges that NYCOM conducted an “internet surfing session” during which it uncovered other incidents from plain...