Flaherty v. Lang
| Decision Date | 01 August 1998 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 98-9418,PO-25,BRESSALIER-KODIN |
| Citation | 199 F.3d 607 |
| Parties | (2nd Cir. 1999) JAMES E. FLAHERTY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. JUNE LANG, individually and in her official capacity asSection 3324 Instructor, Suffolk County Community College (SCCC), Ammerman Campus; SUSAN FINLAY, individually and in her official capacity as Social Sciences Instructor, SCCC Ammerman Campus; DR. GARY GOODWIN, in his official capacity as Head, Department of History, Political Science, & Geography, SCCC, Ammerman Campus; DEAN DORIS STRATMANN, in her official capacity as Section 504 Compliance Coordinator, & Dean of Institutional Planning, SCCC, Ammerman Campus; LINDA REISSER, in her official capacity as Dean of Students, SCCC Ammerman Campus; DR. ELMIRA JOHNSON, in her official capacity as Director, Office of Special Services, SCCC Ammerman Campus; KAREN PEPE, in her official capacity as SCCC Section 504 Special Needs Counselor, Office of Special Services, SCCC Eastern Campus; JUDITH, in her official capacity as SCCC Coordinator for Disabled Services, SCCC, Eastern Campus; DR. LAWRENCE PROPER, in his official capacity as Head, Department of Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology; JOANNE BRAXTON, in her official capacity as Dean of Students, Eastern Campus; DR. EILANE FRIEDMAN, in her official capacity as Director of Grants, SCCC, Ammerman Campus; DR. JOHN L. COOPER, President, SCCC, Ammerman Campus; NORMAN F. LECHTRECKER or his Successor in Office, in his official capacity as Chairman of the SCCC Board of Trustees; SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES; MERYL ROGERS, in her official capacity as Assistant Dean of Students and SCCC Disciplinary Hearing Officer; SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE; ROBERT BULL, in his official capacity as Member SCCC Disciplinary Committee; RUSSEL GUSSACK, in his official capacity as Member, SCCC Disciplinary Committee; ARTHUR KLEINFELDER, in his official capacity as Member SCCC Disciplinary Committee; PATRICIA YARBOUROUGH, in her official capacity as Provost, SCCC Ammerman Campus; COUNTY OF SUFFOLK, Defendants-Appellees |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Thomas C. Platt, Judge), granting defendants' motion to dismiss under FED. R. CIV. P. 12(b)(6). In a prior action brought by this plaintiff against the same defendants, the District Court had denied plaintiff's motion for leave to supplement his complaint to add claims substantially similar to those plaintiff asserts in this action. Based on that denial, the District Court held in this case that plaintiff's claims are barred by res judicata. We conclude that res judicata does not bar plaintiff's entire action. We find that collateral estoppel operates to preclude his due process claim, but that he can proceed with his other claims in this action.
Affirmed in part , vacated in part, and remanded.
[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
JAMES E. FLAHERTY, Hampton Bays, NY, pro se.
CHRISTOPHER A. NICOLINO, Assistant County Attorney, on behalf of Robert J. Cimino, Suffolk County Attorney, Hauppauge, NY, for Defendants-Appellees.
Before: CALABRESI, CABRANES, and SOTOMAYOR, Circuit Judges.
Pro se plaintiff James E. Flaherty appeals from the August 17, 1998 judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Thomas C. Platt, Judge), dismissing under the doctrine of res judicata Flaherty's claims against Suffolk County Community College ("SCCC"); Suffolk County, New York; and certain individual defendants. In a prior action brought by this plaintiff against the same defendants, the District Court had denied plaintiff's motion for leave to supplement his complaint to add claims substantially similar to those asserted in this action. Based on that denial, the District Court held in the instant case that plaintiff's claims are barred by res judicata. We conclude that res judicata does not bar plaintiff's entire action. We find that collateral estoppel operates to preclude his due process claim, but that he can proceed with his other claims in this action. Accordingly, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand.
James Flaherty was a student at SCCC from the fall semester of 1992 until midway through the spring semester of 1995. In February 1995, Flaherty pro se initiated an action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York ("the 1995 action") against SCCC, Suffolk County, and most of the individual defendants named in the instant case. In the initial complaint filed in the 1995 action, Flaherty asserted that: (1) he had been discriminated against because he was disabled, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq., and the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. 701, et seq.;1 (2) the defendants had breached a settlement agreement arising out of a suit filed in 1993; and (3) he had been discriminated against on the basis of his religion. Flaherty sought injunctive relief, including "vacatur" of failing grades he had received in four of his classes, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.
On March 15, 1995, subsequent to Flaherty's having initiated the 1995 action, SCCC instituted disciplinary proceedings against him. SCCC charged Flaherty with having engaged in disruptive behavior, with threatening and abusive treatment of several professors, with academic dishonesty, and (notably) with having brought "baseless, frivolous lawsuits and academic grievances." On March 27, 1995, Flaherty submitted for the District Court's approval a proposed Order to Show Cause, to require defendants to explain why the disciplinary proceedings were not unlawful and should not be enjoined. The Court entered the order and held "show cause" hearings on March 28 and March 31, with both sides appearing and submitting briefs and supplemental papers. At the conclusion of the March 31 hearing, the Court declined to enjoin the disciplinary proceedings, denying the motion for injunctive relief without prejudice to renewal if Flaherty subsequently presented evidence that he had been denied procedural due process during the course of the proceedings.
Following further disciplinary proceedings at SCCC, Flaherty took up Judge Platt's offer and submitted a second proposed Order to Show Cause why SCCC should not be enjoined from punishing Flaherty. After holding a third hearing on the issue on May 22, 1995, Judge Platt refused to sign the order but pressed the defendants to grant Flaherty another hearing in the disciplinary proceedings. The defendants held the hearing on June 26, 1995; Flaherty was allowed to submit evidence and question witnesses. Ultimately, the charges based upon Flaherty's filing of grievances and lawsuits were dismissed. However, he was held responsible on the remaining charges, suspended from SCCC for four years, and given an additional year of probation.
During the course of the disciplinary proceedings, the defendants in the pending 1995 action moved for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Flaherty then cross-moved for, inter alia, leave to file a supplemental complaint stating claims arising out of the ongoing disciplinary proceedings. Specifically, Flaherty sought to add claims alleging that the disciplinary proceedings were an unlawful retaliation against him for having exercised his rights under the First Amendment and the ADA, and that he had been denied due process during the course of the proceedings. In an order dated June 12, 1996, the District Court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment and denied Flaherty's cross-motions. The Court subsequently entered a number of findings of fact and conclusions of law in support of its decision, including the following:
66. Plaintiff has indicated that the focus of that [supplemental] complaint would be the student disciplinary proceeding in which Plaintiff was involved . . . .
67. Based upon the Court's involvement in the procedural issues surrounding that proceeding, and the finding that Plaintiff was provided with notice, an opportunity to be heard and an opportunity to confront witnesses against him, the Court further finds as a matter of law that due process was afforded to the Plaintiff in the context of that student disciplinary proceeding.
68. Likewise, because of the factual circumstances surrounding the disciplinary proceeding and the Court's involvement therein, the Court finds Plaintiff's contentions that his free speech rights were abridged to be unpersuasive.
69. These facts, coupled with the decision enunciated above that Plaintiff is not a disabled person and, therefore, not a member of that protected class of individuals, mandate that no federal question is involved in reviewing the student disciplinary proceeding.
70. Accordingly, Plaintiff's sole remedy regarding the disciplinary proceeding in which he was involved lies in a State court review pursuant to New York State's C.P.L.R. Article 78.
(emphasis supplied). Flaherty appealed the District Court's decision, but we dismissed the appeal on July 30, 1998, due to his default.
In the meantime, on March 16, 1998, Flaherty had filed another complaint pro se initiating the instant action ("the 1998 action"). In the 1998 action, Flaherty asserts that his suspension from SCCC violated (1) his constitutional rights to freedom of speech and due process; (2) the anti-retaliation provisions of the ADA and Rehabilitation Act; and (3) New York State law.2 Defendants moved to dismiss under FED. R. CIV. P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted, on the ground that Flaherty's claims were precluded by the June 12, 1996 decision of the District Court in the 1995 action. The District Court granted defendants' motion and dismissed the 1998 action on August 14, 1998. Flaherty then moved...
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