Festa v. Westchester Med. Ctr. Health Network

• Decision Date: 29 March 2019
• Docket Number: No. 18-CV-1335 (KMK),18-CV-1335 (KMK)
• Citation: 380 F.Supp.3d 308
• Parties: Lorraine FESTA, Plaintiff, v. WESTCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER HEALTH NETWORK, d/b/a Westchester County Health Corporation; and Michael D. Israel, sued in his individual capacity, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

380 F.Supp.3d 308

Lorraine FESTA, Plaintiff,

v.WESTCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER HEALTH NETWORK, d/b/a Westchester County Health Corporation; and Michael D. Israel, sued in his individual capacity, Defendants.

No. 18-CV-1335 (KMK)

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

Signed March 29, 2019

Raphael Katz, Esq., Sadowski Katz LLP, New York, NY, Counsel for Plaintiff.

Stephen Bergstein, Esq., Bergstein & Ullrich, LLP, New Paltz, NY, Counsel for Plaintiff.

Daniel David Schudroff, Esq., Arielle Virginia Garcia, Esq., Jackson Lewis P.C., New York, NY, Counsel for Defendants.

OPINION & ORDER

KENNETH M. KARAS, United States District Judge

Lorraine Festa ("Plaintiff") brings this Action under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Const. amend. I, against Westchester Medical Center Health Network, d/b/a Westchester County Health Care Corporation ("WCHCC"), and Michael D. Israel in his individual capacity ("Israel") (collectively, "Defendants"). (See Compl. (Dkt. No. 1).) Plaintiff alleges that Defendants violated her rights under the First Amendment when they terminated her employment because of an anti-Semitic Facebook post. (See Compl. ¶¶ 1, 14.) Before the Court is Defendants' Motion To Dismiss (the "Motion"). (See Not. of Mot. ("Defs.' Mot.") (Dkt. No. 17).) For the following reasons, the Motion is denied.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

The following facts are drawn from Plaintiff’s Complaint, and are taken as true for the purpose of resolving the instant Motion.

Plaintiff is a 55-year-old woman who resides in Lagrangeville, New York. (Compl. ¶ 2.) On October 27, 2015, Plaintiff began working at Westchester Medical Center ("WMC"), which is operated by Defendant WCHCC, as a compliance coordinator. (Id. ¶¶ 3, 4, 8.)¹ Plaintiff’s duties included compliance oversight for three "Bon Secours" acute care hospitals, three nursing homes, and one assisted living facility. (Id. ¶ 9.) In December 2016, Plaintiff received a performance review, which concluded that her performance "meets expectations," and described Plaintiff as "a pleasure to work with and ... a very vital member of [the] team." (Id. ¶ 10.)

On the evening of June 19, 2017, while at home, Plaintiff logged onto Facebook on her personal computer and saw a weather report on a local news organization’s Facebook page that discussed a "funnel cloud" projected to affect the village of Kiryas Joel, "a predominantly Hasidic community in Orange County." (Id. ¶¶ 11–12.)² In the public comment section of the weather report, Plaintiff wrote, "[t]oo bad it didn't suck them all away!" (Id. ¶ 13; Compl. Ex. 1 ("Facebook Post").)

The next day, Kim Herkeler ("Herkeler"), a human resources manager, informed Plaintiff that Defendant Israel had decided to terminate Plaintiff’s employment because of "an anti-Semitic online post," noting that "someone had called the Hospital to complain about Plaintiff’s Facebook comment." (Compl. ¶ 14.) Plaintiff contacted Valerie Campbell ("Campbell"), regional senior director of compliance for WMC, who told Plaintiff "that she was fired over the Facebook post and not her job performance." (Id. ¶ 15.) Plaintiff asserts that her message was "not intend[ed] to convey an anti-Semitic message ... [or] to offend anyone." (Id. ¶ 16.) Plaintiff states that she has been unable to find comparable employment since her termination, and has "endured emotional pain and suffering." (Id. ¶¶ 19–20.)

Plaintiff contends that her Facebook post was protected by the First Amendment because, as "off-duty speech," it "could not reasonably have been interpreted as disrupting the workplace." (Id. ¶ 17.) Plaintiff also asserts that as Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and President of WMC, Israel "is a municipal policymaker on personnel-related matters," and that his actions are therefore attributable to WCHCC "for purposes of Monell liability." (Id. ¶ 18.) Plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys' fees and costs, and injunctive relief in the form of reinstatement to her position of employment "or to a comparable position." (Id. at 4–5.)

B. Procedural Background

Plaintiff filed her Complaint on February 14, 2018. (See Compl.) On March 14, 2018, Defendants filed a letter requesting a pre-motion conference in anticipation of filing a motion to dismiss. (Dkt. No. 11.) The Court held a pre-motion conference on May 3, 2018, at which the Court set a briefing schedule for Defendants' Motion. (See Dkt. (minute entry for May 3, 2019); Motion Scheduling Order (Dkt. No. 15).)

Defendants filed the instant Motion To Dismiss and accompanying papers on June 15, 2018. (See Not. of Mot.; Defs.' Mem. of Law in Supp. of Mot. To Dismiss ("Defs.' Mem.") (Dkt. No. 18).) On July 20, 2018, Plaintiff filed a response. (See Pl.'s Mem. of Law in Opp'n to Mot. To Dismiss ("Pl.'s Mem.") (Dkt. No. 21).) On August 17, 2018, Defendants filed a reply. (See Defs.' Reply Mem. of Law in Further Supp. of Mot. ("Defs.' Reply") (Dkt. No. 22).)

II. Discussion

A. Standard of Review

The Supreme Court has held that although a complaint "does not need detailed factual allegations" to survive a motion to dismiss, "a plaintiff’s obligation to provide the grounds of his entitlement to relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (citations, quotation marks, and alterations omitted). Indeed, Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure "demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation." Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). "Nor does a complaint suffice if it tenders naked assertions devoid of further factual enhancement." Id. (quotation marks and alteration omitted). Rather, a complaint’s "[f]actual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level." Twombly , 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. Although "once a claim has been stated adequately, it may be supported by showing any set of facts consistent with the allegations in the complaint," id. at 563, 127 S.Ct. 1955, and a plaintiff need allege "only enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face," id. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, if a plaintiff has not "nudged [his or her] claim[ ] across the line from conceivable to plausible, the[ ] complaint must be dismissed," id. ; see also Iqbal , 556 U.S. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937 ("Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief will ... be a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense. But where the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged—but it has not ‘show[n]’—‘that the pleader is entitled to relief.’ " (citation omitted) (second alteration in original) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) )); id. at 678–79, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (" Rule 8 marks a notable and generous departure from the hypertechnical, code-pleading regime of a prior era, but it does not unlock the doors of discovery for a plaintiff armed with nothing more than conclusions.").

In considering a motion to dismiss, the Court "must accept as true all of the factual allegations contained in the complaint." Erickson v. Pardus , 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007) (per curiam); see also Nielsen v. Rabin , 746 F.3d 58, 62 (2d Cir. 2014) ("In addressing the sufficiency of a complaint we accept as true all factual allegations...." (quotation marks omitted)). Further, "[f]or the purpose of resolving [a] motion to dismiss, the Court ... draw[s] all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff." Daniel v. T & M Prot. Res., Inc. , 992 F.Supp.2d 302, 304 n.1 (S.D.N.Y. 2014) (citing Koch v. Christie’s Int'l PLC , 699 F.3d 141, 145 (2d Cir. 2012) ). "In adjudicating a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a district court must confine its consideration to facts stated on the face of the complaint, in documents appended to the complaint or incorporated in the complaint by reference, and to matters of which judicial notice may be taken." Leonard F. v. Isr. Disc. Bank of N.Y. , 199 F.3d 99, 107 (2d Cir. 1999) (quotation marks and citation omitted).

B. Analysis

Defendants move to dismiss the Complaint on grounds that Plaintiff has failed to state a claim, that Plaintiff has failed to establish municipal liability, and that Israel is entitled to qualified immunity. (See Defs.' Mem 4–18.)

1. Plaintiff’s First Amendment Retaliation Claim

a. Applicable Law

"A plaintiff asserting a First Amendment retaliation claim must establish that: (1) his speech or conduct was protected by the First Amendment; (2) the defendant took an adverse action against him; and (3) there was a causal connection between this adverse action and the protected speech." Matthews v. City of New York , 779 F.3d 167, 172 (2d Cir. 2015) (citation and quotation marks omitted). "[T]he First Amendment inquiry must proceed in two parts. ‘The first component requires determining whether the employee spoke as a citizen on a matter of public concern.’ " Montero v. City of Yonkers , 890 F.3d 386, 395 (2d Cir. 2018) (alteration omitted) (quoting Garcetti v. Ceballos , 547 U.S. 410, 418, 126 S.Ct. 1951, 164 L.Ed.2d 689 (2006) ); see also Matthews , 779 F.3d at 172 ("A court conducts a two-step inquiry to determine whether a public employee’s speech is protected: ‘The first requires determining whether the employee spoke as a citizen on a matter of public concern.’ " (quoting Garcetti , 547 U.S. at 418, 126 S.Ct. 1951 )). This first step involves "two inquiries": "(1) whether the subject of the employee’s speech was a matter of public concern and (2) whether the employee spoke ‘as a citizen’ rather than solely as an employee." Jackler v. Byrne , 658 F.3d 225, 235 (2d Cir. 2011) (citing Garcetti , 547 U.S. at 420–22, 126 S.Ct. 1951 ). "If the answer is no,...