Chance v. Reed

• Citation: 538 F.Supp.2d 500
• Decision Date: 19 March 2008
• Docket Number: Civil No. 3:06CV00970(AWT).
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
• Parties: Stanley CHANCE, Plaintiff, v. Lisa REED, Megan Lowney, Lisa Mazzeo and Operation Hope, Inc., Defendants.

538 F.Supp.2d 500

Stanley CHANCE, Plaintiff, v. Lisa REED, Megan Lowney, Lisa Mazzeo and Operation Hope, Inc., Defendants.

Civil No. 3:06CV00970(AWT).

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

March 19, 2008.

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Stanley Chance, Bridgeport, CT, pro se.

Johanna G. Zelman, Michael J. Rose, Rose Kallor LLP, Hartford, CT, for Defendants.

RULING ON CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

ALVIN W. THOMPSON, District Judge.

Pro se plaintiff Stanley Chance ("Chance") brings five claims against defendants Lisa Reed, Lisa Mazzeo, and Operation Hope of Fairfield, Inc.¹ In a Notice to Parties dated February 12, 2007, the court construed the plaintiffs complaint as asserting the following claims: (1) a claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000a based on racial discrimination; (2) a claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000d based on racial discrimination; (3) a claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for a denial of procedural due process; (4) a claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for denial of equal protection of the laws, based on a "class of one" theory; and (5) a conspiracy claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1985. The court instructed the plaintiff to advise the court if he intended to bring any additional claims, and the plaintiff has not advised the court of any additional claims. The plaintiff has filed a motion for summary judgment and defendants Lisa Reed ("Reed"), Lisa Mazzeo ("Mazzeo"), and Operation Hope of Fairfield, Inc. have filed a cross-motion for summary judgment. For the reasons set forth below, the plaintiffs motion is being denied and the defendants' motion is being granted.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Defendant Reed is a social worker at Operation Hope, a nonprofit organization receiving federal funding which provides services to the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless. Operation Hope operates both an emergency shelter and a community kitchen. The plaintiff was referred to Operation Hope in August or September 2003. Reed met and began working with the plaintiff. In December 2003, the plaintiff began sending letters and emails to Reed, in which he professed his love for Reed. After unsuccessful attempts by Reed to address her concerns about the correspondence, and after receiving correspondence from Chance that Reed perceived to be increasingly threatening, Reed transferred Chance's case to another clinical social worker at Operation Hope.

Reed received further communications from Chance which she perceived as threatening, and she filed a complaint with the Fairfield Police Department on June 9, 2006. On June 9, 2006, a note was written in Operation Hope's log book indicating that the plaintiff was not allowed on the premises. In a letter dated June 13, 2006, Mazzeo, Operation Hope's clinical director, informed Chance that he was not allowed to use any of Operation Hope's services and gave him information regarding other places he could go to for such services.

Chance admitted that he wrote letters to Reed and explained that "Alicia Reed had sex with me and that's why I was writing the letters trying to get it again." (Def.'s Mem. Opp. Mot. Summ. J., (Doc No. 22), Ex. A ("Chance Dep.") at 128). A police incident report dated June 9, 2006 states that "Chance was warned to have no further contact with Reed." (Memorandum of Law in Support of Defendants' Cross Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 72), at Ex. G). However, Chance appears to take the position that he was not aware of Reed's complaint until he arrived at Operation Hope on June 11, 2006, and the court accepts the plaintiffs version of events for purposes of this ruling.

In his complaint, Chance states that when he arrived at Operation Hope on June 11, 2006 to have lunch, he was not allowed on the premises. Chance alleges that the individual defendants, who are white, conspired to have him arrested because he is black. When asked, "[b]ut you weren't arrested; were you?", Chance responded, "[w]ell, that don't mitigate the circumstance, they wanted me arrested; didn't they?" (Chance Dep., at 126). Chance stated that "race played a factor" in the way he was treated, although he "[did not] believe [the defendants] are racists." (Chance Dep., at 80). Chance also claims that Reed once told him, "Black people are stupid." (Plaintiffs' Mem. Supp. Mot. Summ. J., (Doc. No. 40) ("Pl.'s Mem.") at 4). Chance further explained that "Reed had once remarked to the plaintiff, during a session when the plaintiff asked her how she felt about black people `I don't really [feel] nothing but in my life experiences Black people are stupid, look at Genie'". (Plaintiffs Local Rule 56(a)1 Statement of Material Facts Not in Dispute (Doc. No. 42), at ¶ 11). According to Chance, "Genie" is a co-worker of Reed's. See id. at n. 4.² In his memorandum, Chance also contends that Operation Hope knew of drug use by white clients and that one white client who died in his bed was taken to the hospital, while a black client would have been removed from the shelter. He also claimed that Madeleine Randall, a white woman, received help with her rent, while Yolanda Saunders, a black woman, was informed that Operation Hope did not offer that kind of assistance. (Pl's Mem., at 4-5). Chance submitted an affidavit from Yolanda Saunders averring that she was told that Operation Hope did not offer rent assistance, but that she was given a voucher to use the food pantry and was informed that she could have a bed in the shelter if she became homeless. Saunders stated that she is Ming a discrimination lawsuit because she has learned that "Operation Hope has helped other people." (Saunders Aff. (Doc. No. 41), at ¶ 7).

Chance responded to the defendants' motion for summary judgment by submitting an affidavit in which he claimed to have been engaged in an "ongoing sexual relationship" (Chance Aff. (Doc. No. 94)) with Reed, which Reed denies. Assuming for purposes of this motion that Chance's statement is true, this point is immaterial.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

A motion for summary judgment may not be granted unless the court determines that there is no genuine issue of material fact to be tried and that the facts as to which there is no such issue warrant judgment for the moving party as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Gallo v. Prudential Residential Servs., 22 F.3d 1219, 1223 (2d Cir.1994). Rule 56(c) "mandates the entry of summary judgment . . . against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial." See Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

When ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the court must respect the province of the jury. The court, therefore, may not try issues of fact. See, e.g., Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Donahue v. Windsor Locks Board of Fire Comm'rs, 834 F.2d 54, 58 (2d Cir. 1987); Heyman v. Commerce & Indus. Ins. Co., 524 F.2d 1317, 1319-20 (2d Cir. 1975). It is well-established that "[c]redibility determinations, the weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the facts are jury functions, not those of the judge." Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505. Thus, the trial court's task is "carefully limited to discerning whether there are any genuine issues of material fact to be tried, not to deciding them. Its duty, in short, is confined . . . to issue-finding; it does not extend to issue-resolution." Gallo, 22 F.3d at 1224.

Summary judgment is inappropriate only if the issue to be resolved is both genuine and related to a material fact. Therefore, the mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment. An issue is "genuine . . . if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (internal quotation marks omitted). A material fact is one that would "affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law." Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505. As the Court observed in Anderson: "[T]he materiality determination rests on the substantive law, [and] it is the substantive law's identification of which facts are critical and which facts are irrelevant that governs." Id. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505. Thus, only those facts that must be decided in order to resolve a claim or defense will prevent summary judgment from being granted. When confronted with an asserted factual dispute, the court must examine the elements of the claims and defenses at issue on the motion to determine whether a resolution of that dispute could affect the disposition of any of those claims or defenses. Immaterial or minor facts will not prevent summary judgment. See Howard v. Gleason Corp., 901 F.2d 1154, 1159 (2d Cir.1990).

When reviewing the evidence on a motion for summary judgment, the court must "assess the record in the light most favorable to the non-movant and . . . draw all reasonable inferences in its favor." Weinstock v. Columbia Univ., 224 F.3d 33, 41 (2d Cir.2000) (quoting Del. & Hudson Ry. Co. v. Consol. Rail Corp., 902 F.2d 174, 177 (2d Cir.1990)). Because credibility is not an issue on summary judgment, the nonmovant's evidence must be accepted as true for purposes of the motion. Nonetheless, the inferences drawn in favor of the nonmovant must be supported by the evidence. "[M]ere speculation and conjecture" is insufficient to defeat a motion for summary judgment. Stern v. Trs. of Columbia Univ., 131 F.3d 305, 315 (2d Cir.1997) (quoting W. World Ins. Co. v. Stack Oil, Inc., 922 F.2d 118, 121 (2d Cir. 1990)). Moreover, the "mere existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of the [nonmovant's] position" will be insufficient; there must be...