Cornetta v. Town of Highlands

• Decision Date: 22 January 2020
• Docket Number: No. 18-CV-12070 (KMK),18-CV-12070 (KMK)
• Citation: 434 F.Supp.3d 171
• Parties: Joseph CORNETTA, Plaintiff, v. TOWN OF HIGHLANDS; Village of Highland Falls; Joseph D'Onofrio, individually and as Mayor of the Village of Highland Falls; Kenneth Scott, individually and as Chief of Police; James Disalvo, individually and as Deputy Mayor of the Village of Highland Falls; Frank Pierri, individually and as Chief of Police of the Town of Highlands, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

434 F.Supp.3d 171

Joseph CORNETTA, Plaintiff,

v.TOWN OF HIGHLANDS; Village of Highland Falls; Joseph D'Onofrio, individually and as Mayor of the Village of Highland Falls; Kenneth Scott, individually and as Chief of Police; James Disalvo, individually and as Deputy Mayor of the Village of Highland Falls; Frank Pierri, individually and as Chief of Police of the Town of Highlands, Defendants.

No. 18-CV-12070 (KMK)

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

Signed January 22, 2020

Joseph Christopher Albanese, Esq., Michael Patrick Hilferty, Esq., White, Hilferty & Albanese P.C., New York, NY, Counsel for Plaintiff

Kenneth Ethan Pitcoff, Esq., Cristina A. Knorr, Esq., Michael Adam Czolacz, Esq., Morris Duffy Alonso & Faley, New York, NY, Counsel for Defendants Village of Highland Falls, Joseph D'Onofrio, Kenneth Scott, and James DiSalvo

OPINION & ORDER

KENNETH M. KARAS, United States District Judge:

Joseph Cornetta ("Plaintiff") brings this Action against Defendants Town of Highlands (the "Town"), Village of Highland Falls (the "Village"), Joseph D'Onofrio ("D'Onofrio"), Kenneth Scott ("Scott"), James DiSalvo ("DiSalvo"), and Frank Pierri ("Pierri") (collectively, "Defendants"), alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO"), 18 U.S.C. § 1961, et seq. , Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq. , and the New York State Human Rights Law ("NYSHRL"), N.Y. Exec. Law § 296, et seq. , claiming that Defendants discriminated and retaliated against Plaintiff based on a purported disability and that Defendants participated in wire and mail fraud in furtherance of an alleged illegal enterprise. Before the Court is a Motion To Dismiss the Amended Complaint (the "Motion"), pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 9(b) and 12(b)(6), submitted by the Village, D'Onofrio, Scott, and DiSalvo (collectively, "Moving Defendants" or "Village Defendants"). (See Not. of Mot. (Dkt. No. 20).) For the reasons discussed below, the Motion is granted.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

The following facts are taken from the Amended Complaint and assumed to be true for the purposes of this Motion. (See Am. Compl. (Dkt. No. 7).)

The individual Parties involved in this Action are: Plaintiff, a purportedly disabled police officer for the Town and subsequently a detective in the Village's Police Department, (Am. Compl. ¶ 11), D'Onofrio, the Village's mayor, (id. ¶ 14), Scott, the chief of the Village's Police Department, (id. ¶ 15), DiSalvo, the Village's deputy and/or assistant mayor, (id. ¶ 16), and Pierri, the Town's former deputy chief of police, (id. ¶ 17).¹

Plaintiff was hired by the Town as a police officer in 2014 and was promoted to serve as a detective for the Village in 2016. (Id. ¶ 18.) In 2016, Jack Quinn, then a Village police chief, asked Plaintiff to review the work of Plaintiff's predecessor, Randall Bailey ("Bailey"). (Id. ¶ 20.) Plaintiff discovered that Bailey allegedly had failed to take "any meaningful action" in investigating a burglary, and Plaintiff subsequently finished the investigation, culminating in a number of arrests, after which Quinn directed Plaintiff to review and close all of Bailey's cases. (Id. ) Plaintiff alleges that Bailey was displeased with that direction and retaliated against Plaintiff by "discrediting him and smearing his reputation in the Town and the Village." (Id. ) Plaintiff further alleges that during the course of the arrests in the burglary, Plaintiff discovered that one of the arrestees was the nephew of D'Onofrio, the Village's mayor. (Id. ) During questioning of another suspect, Scott, the then-Chief of the Village's Police Department, allegedly requested that Plaintiff meet with the suspect's father. (Id. ) Plaintiff agreed to meet with him, but the suspect's father allegedly used that meeting to discover the names of individual witnesses and went on to intimidate and threaten them. (Id. )

Plaintiff also alleges that over the course of his investigations, he discovered that the owner of a motel in the Village was induced to provide a $10,000 cash bribe to D'Onofrio to facilitate the approval of a modification to the motel. (Id. ¶ 21.)

In early 2017, Patrick Flynn ("Flynn") ousted D'Onofrio as the mayor in the Village, and, concurrently, Scott had also allegedly been suspended from his position as the Village's Police Chief. (Id. ¶ 22.) Plaintiff alleges that this removal was pursuant to "an irrevocable Letter of Retirement," signed to settle a disciplinary hearing against Scott, which included claims that Scott failed to provide adequate firearm training for police department employees, failed to open an investigation of a citizen complaint regarding D'Onofrio, and improperly issued a handgun to a police officer trainee without providing the trainee with proper police credentials. (Id. ¶¶ 78(a)–(b).) Following the election, the Town and Village boards collaborated to form a Joint Special Investigations Unit ("SIU") and appointed Plaintiff as the head. (Id. ¶ 22.) During Flynn's tenure as mayor, Plaintiff, through input from members in the community, allegedly discovered that D'Onofrio and the Village's police department engaged in "shakedowns" of local business owners and thefts of funds from the local senior citizens' center and uncovered "documents showing evidence of fraud regarding federal grants." (Id. ) In the spring of 2017, Plaintiff also allegedly received complaints of threats and harassment conducted by Scott's son and more complainants "in the case against [ ] D'Onofrio." (Id. ¶¶ 23–24.) Plaintiff also alleges that around this time, he received a warning from the then-interim chief of the Village's police department that the Village's police officers "were tracking his movements in the SIU." (Id. ¶ 25.)

Plaintiff alleges that, in March 2017, Plaintiff drove by D'Onofrio's liquor store, with a criminal informant in the passenger seat, and ran into Scott. (Id. ¶ 26.) Plaintiff alleges that Scott "charged out of the liquor store" and started walking towards Plaintiff's patrol vehicle, screaming, "Yeah, what, what, what!" (Id. ) Several days later, on mayoral election day, according to Plaintiff, Scott parked his minivan next to Plaintiff's vehicle, "nodded his head, smiled, and drove away." (Id. ) Plaintiff then allegedly learned that Scott, D'Onofrio, and "various other Village actors—including several known-drug dealers—were intimidating voters near a polling station." (Id. ) To investigate these claims, Plaintiff parked his car across from the street from Scott, and Scott and his associates allegedly "began to wave and shout insults at" Plaintiff. (Id. ) According to Plaintiff, Scott approached Plaintiff's car, called Plaintiff a "dirty cop," and said that Plaintiff was "going down" while a "known-local drug dealer" recorded the incident and posted the video to his Facebook page. (Id. )

D'Onofrio subsequently won the mayoral election. (Id. ) Plaintiff alleges, upon information and belief, that Defendants committed voter fraud in order to win re-election, using fraudulent absentee ballots in their endeavor to get D'Onofrio re-elected and continue "their reign of intimidation, extortion[,] and retaliation." (Id. ¶¶ 27–30.) Plaintiff further alleges that, after the election, D'Onofrio, in violation of the "irrevocable Letter of Retirement," reinstated Scott as the chief of the Village's police department "without approval or a vote by the Board of Trustees." (Id. ¶ 78(b).) Although D'Onofrio made public statements acknowledging that Scott was not permitted to have a firearm or carry a police badge, in practice, D'Onofrio allegedly permitted Scott to continue doing so. (Id. ¶¶ 78(b)–(c).)

Plaintiff claims that, on April 3, 2017, he sustained an injury on duty. (Id. ¶ 32.) Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that while performing a "day tour" for the Town, Plaintiff parked his patrol vehicle in the Town police department's driveway for a smoking break. (Id. ) Scott pulled into the driveway and then exited his vehicle, allegedly shouting, "I'm here for my car. Get your shit out of it!" (Id. ) Plaintiff advised Scott not to enter the car because there were confidential case materials in it. (Id. ) Scott allegedly continued to circle the car and eventually took the vehicle's keys—of which Scott also had a copy—to the car from his pocket, despite Plaintiff's protests. (Id. ) Plaintiff approached Scott and the vehicle to prevent Scott from opening the door, and Scott allegedly "struck" Plaintiff's right arm to push him away. (Id. ) Plaintiff managed to shut the door, and Scott turned and pushed Plaintiff in the chest. (Id. ) At some point, Quinn stepped in to stop the altercation, and Plaintiff warned Scott never to touch him again. (Id. ) Scott stepped back, allegedly "positioning himself as if reaching for his gun," when Plaintiff asked Scott whether he was "going for his gun," to which Scott responded, "I don't need my fucking gun." (Id. ) After the altercation, Scott allegedly threatened to charge Plaintiff with insubordination. (Id. ¶ 33.)

Plaintiff alleges that, later in the same afternoon, Plaintiff "felt discomfort in his shoulder and neck." (Id. ¶ 34.) Plaintiff avers that he was later diagnosed with a torn labrum and an injured disc in his neck. (Id. )²

On April 4, 2017, Plaintiff allegedly went to the Orange County District Attorney's office to report the previous incident and other indications of alleged corruption in the Village. (Id. ¶ 35.) Plaintiff alleges that District Attorney Chris Borak ("Borak") refused to prosecute, "claiming he would be unable to convince a jury that Scott intentionally hurt [Plaintiff]." (Id. ) Plaintiff alleges that his injury "necessitated his leave" under worker's compensation, and he was scheduled for surgery. (Id. ) According to Plaintiff, while he was out on leave, Pierri became Assistant Chief to replace Quinn, who was retiring. (Id. ¶ 37.) Pierri allegedly refused...