Filteau v. Prudenti
| Decision Date | 17 February 2016 |
| Docket Number | 15 Civ. 3464 (PAE) |
| Citation | 161 F.Supp.3d 284 |
| Parties | Robert P. Filteau, Plaintiff, v. Hon. A. Gail Prudenti, in her Official Capacity as Chief Administrative Judge of the Courts of the State of New York; and the Office of Court Administration of the New York State Unified Court System, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Paul Thomas Gentile, Paul T. Gentile, P.C., Stephen Jeffrey Riegel, Weitz and Luxenburg, P.C., New York, NY, for Plaintiff.
Lee Alan Adlerstein, Office of New York State Office of Court Administration, New York, NY, for Defendants.
At issue in this case is plaintiffs claim that an alleged deficiency in his publicly available criminal record has deprived him of a constitutionally protected interest. Plaintiff Robert P. Filteau seeks injunctive relief against the Hon. A. Gail Prudenti, in her capacity as Chief Administrative Judge of the courts of New York State,1 and the Office of Court Administration (“OCA”) of the New York State Unified Court System (collectively, “defendants”), under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1871,42 U.S.C. § 1983
, and Article 1, § 6 of the New York State Constitution. Filteau claims that defendants have deprived him of property and liberty rights in his public good name, reputation, and integrity without due process of law by maintaining official, publicly available records that incompletely report the history and disposition of a criminal case in which he was charged.
Defendants now move to dismiss Filteau's First Amended Complaint (“FAC”), Dkt. 15, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6)
. For the reasons that follow, defendants' motion to dismiss is granted.
On April 7, 2013, Filteau, then a Fordham University student, was involved in a verbal altercation with another student near the school's campus, and arrested by the New York Police Department. FAC ¶ 8. He was charged, in an information, with three misdemeanors and a violation under the New York Penal Law (“P.L.”). Id. Relevant here are the charges of a Class A misdemeanor for criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree with intent to use it, in violation of P.L. § 265.01(2) (the “criminal possession charge”), and a violation (a petty offense) for harassment in the second degree, in violation of P.L. § 240.26(1) (the “harassment charge”). Id.
On December 10, 2013, Filteau pled guilty to the harassment charge before the Hon. Marc J. Whiten in the New York City Criminal Court in the Bronx (“Criminal Court”). Id. ¶ 9. Before Filteau entered that plea, however, the People, pursuant to an agreement with Filteau, moved to dismiss the criminal possession count, and Judge Whiten granted the motion. Id. ; id. , Ex. 1 (“Plea Tr.”), at 2. Filteau was sentenced to a conditional discharge and a 10-day order of protection. FAC ¶ 9.
The OCA, the administrative arm of the New York State Unified Court System, creates and maintains records for the Criminal Court, using a computerized system called the Criminal Records and Information Management System (“CRIMS”). Id. ¶¶ 7, 12, 19. One publicly available official record generated by CRIMS is a certificate of disposition (“COD”). Id. ¶¶ 1, 12.
In February 2014, Filteau obtained a copy of the then-current COD for his case, dated February 10, 2014. Id. ¶ 11; id. , Ex. 2 (“Feb. 2014 COD”). Filteau perceived two deficiencies in it. FAC ¶ 11. First, the Feb. 2014 COD listed various “Arraignment Charges” by P.L number, but did not affirmatively state that the criminal possession charge had been dismissed, or how that dismissal had come about. See id. ¶ 11; Feb. 2014 COD. Second, the Feb. 2014 COD indicated that an order of protection had been ordered for two years, not 10 days. FAC ¶ 11.
Filteau's counsel took steps to modify the official records to reflect the dismissal of the criminal possession charge and the fact that the protective order was for 10 days. Id. ¶¶ 13, 16. Relevant here, he contacted deputy chief clerk William Reyes. Id. ¶ 13. Reyes stated that he could not correct the official record, but provided Filteau's counsel with a handwritten COD, dated March 10, 2014 (“Handwritten COD”), which stated that the criminal possession charge had been “Dismissed” and that the order of protection to which Filteau had been sentenced was for 10 days. Id. ¶ 14; id. , Ex. 3 (“Handwritten COD”). On July 2, 2014, Reyes notified Filteau's counsel that, despite contacting numerous officials, his efforts to modify Filteau's official COD had been unsuccessful. FAC ¶ 15; id. , Ex. 4.
On July 11, 2014, Filteau's counsel wrote to Prudenti, asking that the official records be corrected. FAC ¶ 16; id. , Ex. 5. On July 24, 2014, Justin Barry, the chief clerk of the Criminal Court, sent Filteau a letter in response. FAC ¶ 17; id. , Ex. 6. Barry acknowledged that the protective order was supposed to last 10 days, per the sentence Judge Whiten had imposed. Id. , Ex. 6. However, with respect to the COD's failure to affirmatively indicate that the criminal possession charge had been dismissed, Barry stated that “certificates of disposition, even before CRIMS was first put into service, have never reported this information”; rather, he stated, when a defendant is found or pleads guilty to another count or lesser-included offense, the CODs “only report on that disposition.” Id. Barry stated that he would bring Filteau's request for reconsideration of this policy to the attention of appropriate administrators. Id. He also noted that the clerical staff had already given Filteau a handwritten COD containing the requested information. Id.
On May 4, 2015, Filteau initiated this lawsuit, by filing his initial Complaint. Dkt. 1. He challenges the most recent COD issued in connection with his New York state criminal case, dated March 31, 2015. FAC, Ex. 7 (“March 2015 COD”). The March 2015 COD now correctly states, as to the duration of the protective order, that the order was to last 10 days. However, as to the criminal possession charge, the March 2015 COD lists the charge among the arraignment charges, see id. (), but, in its “Case Disposition Information” section, does not state that the charge was dismissed or how the dismissal came about, see id.
On June 24, 2015, defendants filed a motion to dismiss, Dkt. 7, along with a supporting memorandum of law, Dkt. 9 (“Def. Br.”), and affirmation and attached exhibits, Dkt. 8 (“Martin Aff.”). On July 30, 2015, Filteau filed the FAC. Dkt. 15. The FAC faults defendants for the failure of the COD to affirmatively report the fact of the criminal possession charge's dismissal, noting that this fact is maintained in the CRIMS system and included in internal and inter-agency reports. FAC ¶ 19. The FAC alleges that this deficiency may hurt Filteau's job prospects in the financial services industry, where he works and intends to work. See id. ¶¶ 23–25. It alleges that job applicants in that industry must “self-disclose any previous crimes the applicant has been convicted of and additional information about the convictions,” and that if Filteau disclosed the conviction for the harassment violation while stating that the criminal possession charge had been dismissed, an employer could not, looking to the COD, verify that representation. Id. ¶ 23. The FAC alleges that such “materially inaccurate or incomplete information ... will be a major consideration” for potential future employers' decisions about whether to hire or maintain him as an employee in a compliance department. Id. ¶ 24. Finally, the FAC alleges, Filteau is required to “possess various licenses” in connection with his work; if a license were denied or suspended based on an agency's conclusion that Filteau had supplied false information about the disposition of his criminal case, he could be prohibited from future work in the financial industry. Id. ¶ 25.
On August 11, 2015, defendants submitted a letter indicating their intent to rely on their previous motion to dismiss. Dkt. 16. On September 15, 2015, Filteau filed a memorandum of law in opposition to that motion. Dkt. 21 (“Pl. Br.”). On September 25, 2015, defendants filed a reply memorandum in support of their motion. Dkt. 22 (“Def. Reply Br.”).3 On November 23, 2015, the Court heard argument (“Tr.”).
On December 3, 2015, with the Court's permission, Filteau filed a supplemental letter memorandum addressing issues raised by the Court at argument. Dkt. 31 (“Pl. Supp. Br.”). On December 9, 2015, defendants filed a response. Dkt. 32 (“Def. Supp. Br.”).
To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6)
, a complaint must plead “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). A claim will only have “facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). A complaint is properly dismissed where, as a matter of law, “the allegations in a complaint, however true, could not raise a claim of entitlement to relief.” Twombly , 550 U.S. at 558, 127 S.Ct. 1955.
In considering a motion to dismiss, a district court must “accept[ ] all factual claims in the complaint as true, and draw[ ] all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor.” Lotes Co. v. Hon Hai Precision Indus. Co. , 753 F.3d 395, 403 (2d Cir.2014)
(quoting Famous Horse Inc. v. 5th Ave. Photo Inc. , 624 F.3d 106, 108 (2d Cir.2010) ) (internal quotation marks omitted). However, “the tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions.” Iqbal , 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937
. “Threadbare recitals of...
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